Tactics
by The Insufferable Vegemite
Summary: Kyo's life is at an all-time low, and with no one to lean on, he's drowning in his own depression. It doesn't help that he's been paired with Yuki for a school project involving dancing. But could this possibly bring the cat and the rat closer together?
1. I Hate My Life

**DISCLAIMER- ****I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**CHAPTER ONE:  
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Four words circled repeatedly through Kyo Sohma's head like a broken record – incessant, unceasing and not very pleasant.

_I hate my life._

Perched on the roof, his knees drawn up to his chest, he thought it to himself again and again, the monotone of the repetition blurring the words together and making them lose all meaning.

_I hate my life. I hate my life. I hate my life._

"I hate my life." he muttered aloud, then coughed. He'd been sitting in silence for almost an hour, and when he did finally speak, his voice was all gravelly and rough. Swallowing a few times to clear his throat, he stood up to go back inside, wondering if Tohru was back from work yet.

"Whoah...shit!" he stumbled as he took a step forward, one leg caving in under him, as it had gone to sleep during his hour of sitting on it. Losing his balance, he ended up sprawled on one side in a most undignified manner, cringing as he scraped his arm against something sharp and a hot burst of pain flared through it.

Muttering obscenities, Kyo pulled himself upright and said, loudly, "I _hate _my _life_."

Obviously, saying it louder would get the point across and make everything better.

Inspecting his arm, the cat frowned. A large, but shallow graze across it was starting to well up with blood. Turning to see what he had cut it on, he noticed the sharp edge of a broken roof tile protruding from among the other tiles on the roof.

"Hm..." he pressed his other hand against the graze to stop it bleeding. "Ouch." Touching the wound stung, but actually...it was...distracting?

He took his hand off, smearing the blood slightly, and sighed heavily, slumping back against the roof. The last week had been... low. He seemed to have been stuck in a rut of depression for most of it. In fact, he'd felt worse than he had felt in a long time – he hadn't been that depressed since he started living with Tohru.

It started on Monday, when his bracelet got caught on something and while trying to pull it free, it started to slip over his hand a bit. Naturally, he panicked, stood frozen for a few seconds, eventually got it loose slowly and carefully, and spent the rest of the day in a bad mood. A nightmare that night only served to worsen his disposition, and things went downhill from there.

Normally at this point Tohru would have been there to cheer him up or support him, but lately the optimistic girl had been spending more and more time at work, putting in as many hours as possible so that she'd have more time to spare when it came to exams. For the last week or so she had just been home in time to cook dinner and get the chores done before heading to her room to study or sleep.

_I hate my life._

_I wonder, _he thought with a curiosity due to being the cat, _how long I can go without thinking, 'I hate my life.'_

About thirty-one seconds. This was probably because he was trying not to think about it, and to not-think about something you kind of need to think about it to remember not to think about it.

The scratch had pretty much stopped bleeding by now. Licking the stain of blood from his arm, he glanced over at the sharp roof tile.

_This is a scientific experiment. _He told himself. _If I cut deeper, it'll take longer for it to stop bleeding...right? That seems obvious. What if I make two more cuts- one deeper, and one longer. Which will stop bleeding first?_

After thinking about this a moment, he honestly couldn't figure out which one would, though he had a feeling it would be the deeper one. _Guess I'll just have to test this then._

Bracing himself, he pulled the sharp roof tile out of the roof (which was surprisingly easy, as it was loose anyway) and held it against his grazed arm. _Testing testing one, two...three._

He let out a hiss of pain as he quickly sliced his arm, gritting his teeth. The hot burst of pain faded quickly into a dull ache, but it still felt...good? It still felt good while it lasted...

"Umm." He didn't stop to think about it, instead cutting his arm a second time, making this wound longer but shallower.

_Now to just sit back and see what happens._

As he waited, he found his mind drifting back onto that familiar pattern of monotone. _I hate my life. I hate my life._ He could almost chant it to a tune. _I-hate. My-life. I-hate. My-life._

He snapped himself back to attention. _Don't zone out. What if Tohru gets back and you don't hear her? If she comes up here, she'll be all like, 'Ah! Kyo! You're bleeding!', and then she'll call Hatori and...yeah, gonna be hard explaining all this._

Eventually the long cut's trickle of blood slowed and stopped. The deep one, however, continued...and continued...and continued.

_Well... I guessed right, anyway._ He turned the roof tile over in his hands. _Maybe I should do it a few more times, though... just to make sure the results are accurate. _That was what they normally did in science, right? Conduct each experiment a few times to make sure the results weren't just a fluke.

_Here goes. Commencing the second round of tests. Three, two...one. _

Slice, went the blade, and he found himself thinking, _That cut's for Akito, damn him._

Slice, _and that one's for the damn rat._

"Maybe two more..." he mused, "Just to make sure it's _really _accurate."

Slice, _that one's for leeks._

Slice, _that one's for being the cat..._

He was pretty much out of room on this arm now. Holding his two arms together, his face contorted into an expression that he wasn't sure was a smile, or a frown. His left arm was unmarred and smooth, his right sticky with blood and gouged with cuts.

_Interesting, _he thought, _these four new wounds all seem to be bleeding at the same rate._

He felt a sense of release, at any rate. Normally when he was really frustrated, he squeezed ice, the burning sensation seeming to calm him down and take his mind further from his troubles. It seemed making himself bleed did the same thing.

"Uhh...uh, damn." he looked around the roof and finally came completely back into reality. "I think I had better clean up now..."

Tucking the roof tile into his pocket, he stood carefully, holding his injured arm against his shirt so that it wouldn't drip blood everywhere. Climbing down the ladder was a bit awkward, but he managed, heading straight to the bathroom.

_I don't want Tohru to see this,_ he decided as he rummaged for the first aid kit in the cupboard under the faucet. _Or anyone, for that matter. They'll think I'm suicidal._ Which he wasn't, because he hadn't cut his wrists and had absolutely no intention of killing himself.

Finally finding the kit, he held his arm under running water for a few moments to wash away the blood. It stung like hell, but finally all traces of red had vanished down the sink. He headed back to his room, taking the kit with him.

_...note to self - trying to tie a bandage with one hand is not easy. _With much swearing and muttering, he succeeded in binding the wound too loosely, then too tight. Then it all began bleeding again, which just made a huge mess.

After another trip to the bathroom to wash off the blood, then heading back, his mood had sunk back down again. His fifth attempt at bandaging went somewhat better, which cheered him up a bit until he looked down at his shirt.

_Shit. _It was smeared and spotted with bloodstains, which would be...hard to explain to Tohru, to say the least. _Guess I'll have to chuck it out_. He thought despondently, pulling it off and stowing it in some dark corner under the bed. _I'll dispose of that later..._

Putting on something with long sleeves to hide the bandages, he made for the door but swayed suddenly, feeling lightheaded, and even had to lean on the doorframe to make the room stop tilting.

_I'm tired..._ he decided, heading back to the bed and lying down. He felt his eyelids drooping, and a sense of exhaustion washed over him.

It didn't take him long to fall asleep.

* * *

'Prince' Yuki Sohma was, surprisingly, just as human as the rest of us. Despite his 'princeliness', which should have made him impeccable in all ways, he had managed to procrastinate long enough that his assignment on industry-and-its-effect-on-the-environment was due the next day... when he'd barely started.

Luckily he had a formula for completing geography assignments. Simply mention the words 'global warming', 'greenhouse gases', 'abiotic effects' and 'sustainability' enough times, and you're sure to pass.

It had still taken him all afternoon to complete, and his arm was sore from writing. His eyes were sore from reading, and his brain was sore from researching.

As he sat, staring at his finished work, neat in its smooth, crisp, _shiny_ plastic sleeve, he reveled in that glorious, completed-assignment feel. Ah, that sense of satisfaction. That notion of work-well-done. That wonderful freedom... at least, until the next assessment came along. In fact, he was pretty sure that they were getting another one tomorrow.

The sound of the front door opening downstairs brought him back down to earth, and he headed down to find Tohru struggling to carry her schoolbag along with several large plastic bags of groceries.

"Ah! Sohma-kun...good evening." she grinned cheerfully, attempting to lift a hand to wave but failing as both arms were slung with shopping bags. "I bought some groceries on the way home... I'll get started on dinner in just a minute."

"Good evening Miss Honda...let me help you with that." ever the gentleman, he took the bags from her and set them down on the kitchen counter, while she headed to her room to get changed.

Yuki glanced at the grocery bags. His work on the assignment had informed him that most industries used plastic bags, which were _very _bad for the environment.

… he couldn't be bothered doing anything about it.

Deciding to give Tohru a hand and put away the groceries, he unpacked them and laid them out on the counter, but drew a blank there, as he didn't know where most of it went.

_Miss Honda probably has her own order of where things go..._ he mused. _I wouldn't want to put everything in the wrong place and make it hard to find for her._

Still, he knew milk went in the fridge- that one was pretty obvious. He wrinkled his nose as he put the three cartons away, he never drank milk. He couldn't drink it without thinking of Kyo's backwash, which thoroughly disgusted him and put him off completely.

_Thanks to that stupid furball, I am living a life deprived of milk_. He realized suddenly. _No calcium. That can't be healthy._

Tohru headed back into the kitchen at that moment, breaking his train of though. "Oh! Sohma-kun! You unpacked the groceries."

"Yes, but I didn't know where to put most of it." he replied. "Do you need any help with dinner?"

"Umm, no, it'll be ready quite soon actually." she set about putting things in cupboards and refrigerator. "I cooked it last night, I just need to heat it up and make the rice..."

She froze suddenly, her facial expression switching from happy to concerned to mortified. Yuki didn't quite know what to think.

"Um, Miss Honda...is something wrong?" he ventured.

Tohru stared up at him with wide eyes. "Ah... Sohma-kun...I never thought about this before!"

"About what?" he asked, puzzled. _What is she talking about..._

"I've made beef! Is that okay?" she stared down at the floor. "I can't believe I've never realized this before! I'm such an idiot!"

"Miss Honda, stop panicking!" he really had no idea what she was getting so worked up about. "Please calm down and tell me what's wrong. You've made beef for us before, haven't you?"

"Yes, but I just realized..." a frown marred her face. "Well...beef...Hatsuharu. And every time I cook pork... Kagura. Lamb...Hiro...and chicken..."

Yuki maintained a schooled countenance. It wouldn't do to laugh at her when she was so distressed. "Miss Honda... it's fine. Really. We don't mind, and they don't mind."

"Really? Well, that's okay then!" she looked so completely relieved that Yuki had to smile. "I'd better get started then."

As he didn't have anything else he particularly wanted to do, Yuki opted to stay in the kitchen for a while. This, however, involved making conversation with Tohru. Although the rat wasn't the best at small talk, it was generally easy to talk to the girl, and today was no exception.

"How was work?" he asked.

"Ah...good!" she replied cheerfully as she set about preparing the food. "Same as usual. It'll only be for a few more days that I work so late, then I'll be around as much as I used to be." a flicker of concern crossed her face. "This is okay, isn't it? I know I haven't really been around the house much, but I'm still keeping up with the housework!"

"No, it's fine..." he assured her quickly. "What about the assignment? Have you finished it?"

"Yes! I tried to get it done early." Tohru said, "but did you know, we're getting another assessment tomorrow."

"Yes, I did hear something along those lines." Yuki sighed. "For what subject was it, again?"

"Umm, PE I think."

"I see."

Just when you hand one assignment in, another comes along. School could be so cruel sometimes.

He stayed in the kitchen for another half an hour, helping where he could – mainly by washing utensils as Tohru used them or mixing where necessary. Finally, however, most of the meal was complete and Tohru was just waiting for the rice to finish cooking.

"Uh, if it's not too much trouble...could you please fetch Shigure and Kyo and tell them dinner's ready?" she asked. Yuki nodded.

Heading for Shigure's room first, he entered to find the dog reading what looked like – actually, he didn't want to thing about that...object that his older cousin was looking at.

"Dinner's almost ready." he said amiably, averting his eyes from Shigure's reading material and instead gazing at the junk-filled room. It was a wonder the dog managed to sleep at night without choking due to dust, mothballs and lack-of-ventilation.

"Ah, good!" Shigure threw his magazine down and rubbed his hands together. "I'm starving!"

"You're always starving." Yuki said flatly, and Shigure shrugged as he got up. "Just as well, with cooking as wonderful as Tohru's." The dog promptly wandered out to fawn over Tohru and the food.

Heading to Kyo's room next, he found the door shut, and knocked. "Dinner's ready."

No reply. With an irritated sigh, he knocked louder. "Hey, stupid cat! _Dinner's ready_!"

Still nothing. Annoyed, Yuki headed back downstairs to find Shigure already tucking in while Tohru waited for the two boys.

"Is Kyo coming?" she asked as Yuki sat down. The rat shook his head. "I think he was asleep."

"Oh. Umm, I guess I'll just set some aside for him to eat later."

The meal passed relatively quickly. As usual, Shigure vanished immediately afterwards with no offer to help wash up. Once that chore had been completed, Yuki headed back to his room to read over his assignment one more time.

"...I forgot a bibliography."

Oh, the trials of being a student.

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**Reviews are greatly appreciated, as is constructive criticism. I apologize if characters are OOC... they haven't really started to interact yet. I also apologize if this was a bit longwinded.**

**Thank you for reading, if you did, and I hope you enjoyed it. I will try and update sometime within the week. =)  
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	2. Physical Assessment Task

Many thanks to **Haaaaaa, stixnstones, Janie27-27, _odearime_, Lazy Gaga, mousecat, teddibear16 and Llaelien** for taking the time to review chapter one. Thank you also to everyone who read, but did not review, it pleases me to see my hits going up =)

Chapter two is always my falter chapter. I'm glad I got past it. This is... long-ish, but I apologise if the quality is below my usual standard.

**DISCLAIMER- I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**CHAPTER TWO**

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**When Kyo woke up, his arm felt like it was on fire, and his head felt like...a cloud. As soon as he sat upright, the world spun so violently that his stomach lurched as though he was in a moving elevator, and he had to clutch the edges of the mattress to keep from toppling sideways.

"Shi-i-i-it..." he rubbed at his eyes until he saw spots, waiting for the faintness to clear. _What the hell...why do I feel so dizzy? _

When he finally felt steady enough to get out of bed, he took two steps before dropping onto his hands and knees, the whole room seeming to tilt around him. _Shit...okay... this isn't good._ Gritting his teeth, he managed to drag himself across the room to sit against the wall, and pulled his sleeve back, peeling off the bandages to inspect yesterday's cuts.

During the night more blood had soaked through the bandages, but all six cuts appeared to be healing... at least, there was sort of pink-ish white stuff over them, which meant skin was growing back... didn't it? _I have no idea. It was only a few cuts, I can't have lost so much blood that I'd feel this dizzy... can I?_

Putting it down to tiredness, or perhaps hunger, he carefully re-bandaged his arm and tried to stand up again.

_Okay...standing is good, as long as I move slowly. _He managed to get himself dressed, pack his bag for school and get out of the room with no further incident.

"Ah... good morning Kyo!" Tohru said brightly as he entered the main room.

"Mornin'..." he glanced at the clock as he sat down on the couch – he'd slept later than usual, which was odd...normally he was up with the sun, no alarm clock needed. What's more, he still felt tired.

"Eh...your dinner from last night is in the fridge." Tohru chattered. "I can make you breakfast now, if you want. Would you like some eggs?"

"Just milk's fine..." he noted with content that someone had restocked the cartons in the fridge, and pulled out a new one, swigging milk straight from it without bothering to get a cup.

"But..." Tohru had entered the kitchen after him, and was staring at him with a concerned expression. "You had nothing last night, and if you don't eat something this morning...you'll be very hungry at school."

"I'm fine." he snapped, and realized it had come out harsher than he intended when Tohru's eyes widened slightly and she looked away. Feeling a touch guilty, he put the milk back in the fridge and forced a smile for her. "Look... I'm not hungry right now, but I'll eat something later, okay?"

"If you say so..." she said a touch doubtfully, then went to start making breakfast. Kyo dithered a moment, then made to leave and almost walked straight into Yuki, who was just coming in. The cat hissed in annoyance. "Damn rat, watch where you're going."

Yuki just blinked sleepily, looking more asleep than awake, as he usually did in the morning. Kyo turned away and sat himself back down on the couch, tugging his sleeve down to make sure the bandages were concealed. The smell of something frying wafted in from the kitchen, but for some reason made him feel slightly nauseous.

Kyo closed his eyes and tuned out until Tohru's babble of noise and Yuki's murmured replies were just faint noise in the background. _I hate my – okay, enough. I'm going to stop with that now. Geez._

"Gooood MORNING!"

Two hands descended on the cat's shoulders suddenly and made him jump almost out of his skin. His eyes snapping open, he whirled around to glare at Shigure, who was looming over him, beaming.

"What the hell...don't sneak up on me like that." he snapped irritably, pushing the dog away from him. "Get out of my face."

"Someone's being a grumpy-puss this morning." Shigure grinned, prancing across the room and picking the newspaper up from the table. "I thought you were a morning person!"

"Whatever..."

* * *

"Whats up with orange top?" Uo asked, one hand rummaging in her school bag while the other waved in the direction of Kyo.

"Huh?" Tohru followed her friend's gaze and frowned slightly. Kyo was slumped over his desk slightly, eyes half shut and head resting on one arm. "Umm, I'm not sure. He seemed fine this morning at home..."

"He looks kinda... what's the word.." Uo paused for a moment, her face screwing into a contemplative expression. "Umm..."

"Listless?" Hana suggested. "His waves are... despondent."

"Oh dear." Tohru chewed her lip worriedly as she continued to watch him. "I didn't notice... I've been at work... wahhh." she buried her face in her hands. _I can't believe this! Maybe Kyo's been depressed and I never even noticed! I've neglected my duties!_

"Hey, cheer up..." Uo pulled Tohru's hands from her face and grinned at her. "He's probably just being moody as usual. You finish the homework?"

"Yup!" Tohru replied happily, although she glanced at Kyo one last time before fishing to get her work out of her bag.

* * *

Kyo jumped as someone prodded him sharply in the back. Sitting up straighter, he turned to see a grinning classmate sitting behind him, and shot them a death glare. "What... why did you just do that?"

"You had this really emo look on your face." said classmate answered cheerfully. "I thought a sudden jab might shock you out of the depths of despair."

Kyo bared his teeth slightly and scowled, but the boy just continued to smile merrily before turning to talk to someone else. Unable to be bothered punching him or otherwise teaching him a lesson, Kyo turning back to face the front of the room, accidentally knocking his arm on the edge of the desk as he did so.

_Damn! _During the course of breakfast and the walk to school, the pain had mostly faded away, but now it was back again. Making sure to keep a composed expression and biting back several cusses, he angrily folded his arms and glanced impatiently at the clock, arm throbbing painfully.

Still over five and a half hours of school to go. _And the freakin' teacher's late again..._ letting his gaze drift around the room, he found his eyes settling on Yuki, a few seats in front and to the right.

_Damn rat..._ his fists clenched involuntarily at the mere thought of his cousin. _How the hell does he look so perfect all the time?_

True to form, Yuki looked impeccable as always. Now fully awake, his uniform and hair seemed pristine in comparison to the rest of the class, especially Kyo, whose shirts always seemed to end up crumpled despite Tohru's most valiant attempts at ironing them.

"Good morning class."

Kyo tilted his head and looked up as the teacher finally entered the room and began the usual blah about homework and what-they-would-be-doing-this-lesson.

* * *

"...physical assessment task."

Yuki sighed almost inaudibly at the words. There were groans and murmured protests from the rest of the class, while at the front of the room, their PE teacher just grinned and folded his arms.

"That's right, we're starting a new topic today." the teacher announced. "Ballroom dancing."

Yuki stiffened at the words. His spirits sank further as the teacher outlined the topic and how they would have to pair up to complete their assessment task.

_This is... not good, to say the least._ Dancing with a girl was risky- there was a high chance that he would transform, and even if he did try to keep her at a distance, there was always the possibility of an accident – falling on one another, or being paired with a member of his fan club who would most likely try to hug him.

_My only hope is to be paired with a boy, instead of a girl, _he reasoned, and quickly began to count the number of each gender in his class.

_...phew._ He found himself heaving a sigh of relief – there were four more boys than girls, which meant he and three other boys would be dancing with someone of the same gender. _That was lucky. If I ended up transforming here at school, Akito would..._

_...No. _He firmly diverted his mind from that train of thought and tuned back in to what the teacher was saying.

"...worth twenty percent of your final year mark. I will allow you to choose your dancing partners, however..." the teacher trailed off and did what Yuki had done a few moments earlier – count the amount of boys and girls in the class.

"We seem to have a shortage of females." The teacher said finally. "In that case, we will have two pairs of boys dancing together. It won't affect your mark, you'll just need to choose who will be dancing the female part."

This prompted sniggers from the class, and the teacher frowned thunderously and raised his hand for silence.

"Do I have four male volunteers?"

Yuki slowly raised his hand, and there were groans of disappointment from most of the girls in the class, the majority of whom were members of the Prince Yuki Fan Club. Strategically ignoring them, he turned to see that Kyo also had his hand up, as well as two other boys across the room.

"You can arrange yourselves into your pairs now." The teacher instructed. "Each boy with a girl. Get going."

The four boys found themselves conglomerating to one side of the classroom while the rest of the students scrambled to get their preferred partners. Yuki observed the other two boys who had volunteered, and his heart sank again.

_Twins_. He thought miserably. _They'll want to be partnered with one another, which means I'm stuck with..._

… _the cat._

…_. the stupid cat._

…_.. I'm going to have to dance with the stupid cat._

Yuki cleared his throat and observed the two twins. Identical, he wasn't sure of their names as they weren't in many of his classes, but knew they were nicknamed by most of the school as 'Bing' and 'Bong'. "I don't suppose," he began politely, "That one of you would like to be my dancing partner?"

"Not really." Bing grinned cheerfully. "I'll go with my brother, and you go with your cousin. That way it's not awkward, since we're dancing with family members."

_Oh, sure. It won't be awkward at all. _Yuki thought drily, turning to look at Kyo, who was standing a little way away glowering. Bing and Bong promptly wandered off, leaving him standing there.

"You two a pair, then?" the teacher asked, coming up and looking at each Sohma in turn. Kyo just continued to glare, so Yuki nodded for both of them. The teacher thrust a printed copy of the assessment task at him and headed for the door.

"Class, we are now going outside. Stand with your partners and I will show you the first basic principles of dancing before explaining exactly what you have to do in this task."

* * *

Kyo, naturally, did not like this at all. Being forced to dance with the rat was not only annoying, it was somewhat humiliating as well. He was tempted to go after Bing and Bong and teach them a lesson they wouldn't soon forget (he was almost certain they were doing this deliberately, just to rile him up), but couldn't seem to muster the energy. His stomach was uncomfortably empty and he was still feeling tired and a little dizzy.

He had enough energy to glare though, and glare he did. He let Yuki be the victim of his fiercest scowl. The rat just glanced at him and raised his eyebrows, which served to tick him off even more.

"Line up with your partner." the teacher instructed, and Kyo stood still. Let the damn rat come to him, he wasn't going to move.

Yuki just sighed with exaggerated patience and came to stand next to him. Kyo glared, and Yuki sighed a second time.

"You can stop pulling faces, furball." the rat said softly, "You're just making yourself look even more stupid. I don't like this any more than you do."

"Damn rat!" Kyo hissed, for lack of a more intelligent or original insult. Yuki just looked away, scanning the other students around them. Kyo frowned, then also looked around, searching for Tohru.

To his content, she was with a serious, somewhat geeky looking boy with thick-rimmed glasses. That was good – he'd rather she dance with a nerd than one of the other perverts in their class.

"We will begin with the main stance for most ballroom dancing," the teacher declared, striding up and down in front of the rows of students. "Take each other's left hand. The girl will rest her right hand on the boy's shoulder, and he will place his hand on the side of her waist."

Kyo's eyes narrowed as he turned to Yuki. "I'm not being the girl."

Yuki's face remained blank, although his eyes hardened and became a little colder. "I think this is something we should discuss and agree on fairly, don't you?"

"Why?" he asked, smirking slightly, and vaguely aware of the fact that he wanted to vex the rat. "You look like a girl, you act like a girl... so I'll assume that you dance like a girl too."

Yuki tensed, and for a moment Kyo was sure he was going to attack him, but the rat simply gave him an icy stare. It was an impressive display of self control.

"I'd say we settle this with a fight," Yuki replied frostily, "But seeing as we are in school, perhaps something less physical would suffice?"

"Huh?" Kyo asked dumbly, as Yuki held out his hand. He stared at said outstretched hand, confused. "What is this?"

"Stupid cat, have you never heard of scissors, paper, rock?"

"Eh? Oh." Kyo muttered rather inarticulately, then frowned. "Fine. Loser has to dance the girl's part."

One scissors-paper-rock later, Kyo was tempted to punch Yuki in the face to prove that paper really couldn't win against rock. Unfortunately, he had enough sense to know that Yuki would probably dodge or block the attack, so he settled for a biting, "You cheated!"

Yuki's eyebrows rose upwards, rebounded off his hairline and descended to furrow between his eyes. "Of course, since you lost, I _must _have been cheating."

"Exactly." Kyo snarled. "And I refuse to be the girl."

"That's odd," Yuki mused, "He demands to be the male in the dance, yet isn't man enough to go through with a bet he set himself."

Kyo let out an enraged hiss. "You damn-"

"Is something going on here?" The teacher chose that moment to interfere and stride up to the two boys. "Why aren't you two doing what I asked you to?"

Kyo just scowled, muttering about the stupidness of the assessment, while the teacher gathered the situation. The end result was them doing a second scissors-paper-rock, with the rest of the class watching. Kyo gritted his teeth as he stared at his paper-formed hand, and Yuki's scissors-formed one. _Winning twice in a row like that... he's _got _to be cheating._

Unfortunately for Kyo, now that the entire class and the teacher had seen him lose rather epically in their scissors-paper-rock match, he pretty much had no choice but to give in. Not to mention the fact that his head was swimming and he was starting to get that drained feeling he normally got when rain was approaching.

"... let's just get on with this then." he snapped, when the teacher moved on and Yuki just stood there. The rat shrugged and they rather awkwardly grasped hands.

_...this feels so wrong. _Kyo thought dismally as Yuki's cold fingers closed around his own. Feeling more and more uncomfortable, he rather self-consciously placed his other hand on Yuki's shoulder, flinching slightly when the rat rested his right hand on the side of his waist.

_Dammit. Goddammit. This is so _stupid_. _Kyo could feel his face flushing as he tried to look anywhere except at Yuki's face, finally settling for glaring down at his shoes. Being in contact with someone like this was not something he was at all comfortable with – generally the only times he touched people were when he was fighting with them, with the exception of Kazuma.

And besides all this, there was the fact that he utterly loathed Yuki.

* * *

The cat was tense, that much was obvious. Yuki could feel taut muscles quivering under the other boy's shirt as they rather awkwardly followed the teacher's confusing instructions to '_step back, then the other person steps forward, then step to the left – no, _my_ left_'. Kyo was also stubbornly staring down at the floor, hair concealing any expression he might be showing.

Yuki just sighed inwardly – he was definitely uneasy with this too, but he was _not _going to be silly about it. If they conducted this in a highly professional manner, they could get it over with, get a good mark (or at least pass), and never speak of it again.

"Shit!" the cat hissed under his breath as he stepped on Yuki's foot and stumbled slightly.

"Pull yourself together." Yuki said drily as Kyo righted himself. The cat glared at him, his grip on Yuki's shoulder tightening uncomfortably.

"Shut up rat, I don't need smart-ass comments like that from you."

"Boys, spin your partners!" the teacher bellowed before Yuki could retort. The rat made to do so, Kyo got confused, and they ended up with their arms tangled around one another in a rather cumbersome way.

"What...what the hell are you doing?" Kyo spluttered as he detached himself from Yuki. The rat glared, at the end of his tether and not feeling particularly patient with his cousin.

"Stupid furball, weren't you listening to the teacher's instructions? Or are you so inept that you can't even do something as basic as dancing? You really do have two left feet!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kyo snapped, glancing down at his feet.

Yuki resisted the urge to face palm. "It's an expression, moron." He reached for Kyo's hand, as they were now behind in following the rest of the teacher's instructions, but the cat moved away and he ended up grabbing his arm instead.

To his surprise, Kyo flinched and yanked his arm out of Yuki's grip, a flicker of pain crossing his face before being replaced by bared teeth and a feral snarl. "D...don't touch me, rat!"

"Dancing involves touching one another, or hadn't you noticed?" Yuki replied sarcastically, frowning at Kyo's strange reaction. "If you're quite ready, let's get a move on. The teacher is staring at us."

Kyo muttered angrily to himself as he complied.

* * *

By the end of the lesson, Kyo was in the pits and considering playing truant for the rest of the day, before remembering that he had an assignment to hand in the next period, not to mention a maths test in final period. Normally he wouldn't care about such things, but Master Kazuma had hinted none too subtly that he wanted a drastic improvement in maths...

It didn't help that as soon as the bell rang and the PE class broke up, he found himself surrounded by the jeering male members of his class.

"So Kyo, how was it dancing with _the Prince_?"

"Ooh, Kyokyo's dancing the _girl's part_! Fancy that!"

"You and your cousin seemed awfully close back there..." Nudge, wink nudge.

Grabbing his books for the next class, a now very-pissed-off Kyo pushed his way through the crowd of boys, shot Bing and Bong the finger as he passed them, and marched down the hallway towards his next class, fuming.

"Kyo! Kyooo!"

Turning at the sound of his name, he instinctively jumped backwards as Tohru pelted down the hall towards him, almost crashing right into him. He took a step away from her as she skidded to a halt, his mood worse than ever.

"Watch where you're going! Don't run at me like that!" he snapped. _The last thing I need is to transform here at school..._

"Ah...I'm sorry!" Tohru bowed her head, looking crestfallen. She gasped a few times as she attempted to catch her breath. "I...I won't do it again! I just started running fast then I couldn't slow down... momentum... I... I'm so sorry!"

Kyo sighed and ran a hand through his hair, wondering how Tohru always managed to make him feel so guilty. "It's...fine. Don't worry about it. Did you want something?"

"Yes... well, no... not really." Flustered, she took a moment to gather her thoughts before staring up at him worriedly. "You left class really quickly back there... I was just wondering if you were okay? I know you probably don't like being paired with Yuki, but..." she trailed off, eyes wide and gazing at him with concern.

"I'm fine." he reassured her, forcing an incredibly strained smile. "We should get to class now."

"Okay." Tohru said happily, trotting along next to him. They walked in silence for a few moments before Kyo became aware of a damp feeling against his arm. Frowning, he moved his arm slightly. His sleeve was definitely wet...

"Kyo? Are you alright?" Tohru asked anxiously.

"Yeah... I'm just going to the bathroom, okay?" he said slowly. "I'll see you in class."

"Okay..." she headed off, glancing back every few seconds. Kyo walked quickly to the bathrooms and ducked into a cubicle, peeling back his sleeve to find the wound bleeding again.

"Gah...damn rat grabbing my arm like that..." he eyed the blood for a few moments before blotting it with a handful of tissues, wincing as it stung. "Maybe cutting it like that wasn't such a good idea..."

_Not such a good idea? Oh, you don't say! _The sarcastic part of his mind commented. _You're a wreck, you know? You carve up your own arm for no apparent reason, you refuse to eat anything, and now, due to your non-existent dancing skills, both you and the rat are most likely going to fail your physical assessment._

Kyo closed his eyes for a moment. _So? Who cares? I'm the cat, my life is meant to be a wreck anyway._

He finished re-bandaging his arm and was just about to leave the cubicle when he heard the bathroom door open and someone mention his name, accompanied by the background noise of the faucet running.

"Did you see those two Sohmas dancing?"

"Of course! I nearly wet myself trying not to laugh."

Kyo gritted his teeth as the two boys began to chuckle, then guffaw. Slamming open the cubicle door, he marched out of the bathroom, shooting them a scowl as he left.

_Freaking morons... idiots... I'd teach them a lesson if I weren't so darned tired... _as he entered the hall, his head swam suddenly and the same dizzy sensation he'd felt upon waking up that morning came crashing back down on him. He found himself having to lean against the wall to keep from falling over.

_There's no way I can go back to class like this... _he forced a glare as the two boys left the bathroom and shot him a confused glance before moving off.

_Keh... sick bay? _Although his unruly behavior had earned him a reputation with most of the teachers at the school, he was pretty sure the school nurse would let him sit in sick bay if he said he felt ill. And he could probably hand his assignment in at the office while he was there... and hopefully by final period he would feel better.

He rather unsteadily made his way towards the nurse's office, inconspicuously cradling his arm as he went.

* * *

Yuki sat behind Tohru in geography, and was getting distracted. This wasn't too big a deal, as they were just watching a sleep-worthy film, but it was getting somewhat annoying. Every few minutes the girl would turn her head, the movement catching Yuki's eye, and would peer across the room, then glance at the door, then turn restlessly back towards the film.

After it had happened five times within ten minutes, Yuki gave up trying to watch and attempted to figure out what she was looking at. _What is there on that side of the room that she would keep looking towards?_

The next time Tohru turned her head, he looked across the room as well, but couldn't seem to see anything out of the ordinary. Just the other students and desks and... an... empty... desk.

_Isn't that where Kyo normally sits? _It suddenly dawned on Yuki. _Ah. So the cat didn't come into class and Tohru is worried about him. So that's it._

_I see now. _He tried to settle down and turn his attention back to whatever was happening on the screen, but still couldn't seem to turn his mind to it. _Stupid furball's probably jigging again. Well, it'll be his problem if he fails this class._

To Yuki's supreme annoyance, now he found _himself _turning towards the door every now and then to see if Kyo had come in late.

_What the... why should I care if he doesn't come in? That's right, I _shouldn't _care! At all!_

And with that, he doubled his efforts, staring at the film intensely until his eyes began to ache and he realized he hadn't blinked for a while.

_Darn that stupid cat!_

_

* * *

_

**Hooray for the thesaurus! Apparently another word for '**idiot**' is** meatball**...but it just sounded stupid when I put it in XD**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated, as is constructive criticism. Maybe I should try not to make this as happy-ish as it has been so far? I apologize for out-of-character-ness, slow-pacing (**but I am trying not to rush things... if that makes sense**)... umm, yes.  
**

**Thank you for reading, if you did, and I hope you enjoyed it. I will try and update sometime withing this week-next week.**

**Thanks again.  
**


	3. Hallway Encounters

Much thanks to **teddibear16, Lazy Gaga, _llaelien_, stixnstones, _You sound like Ritsu XD_, Haaaaaa, Janie27-27 and cat2772 **for taking the time to review chapter two. Thanks also to everyone who has favorited this story or added it to alerts, and everyone who has read it. I really appreciate it =)

**DISCLAIMER- I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**CHAPTER THREE**

**

* * *

**"Hey! Hey! Hellooo...? Are you ignoring me? Yo!"

Kyo slammed his locker door shut and whirled around to face the obnoxious motormouth. "What?"

The halls were almost empty, most students having already departed the school, including Tohru, who had headed off to work as soon as the final bell rang, trailing promises to be back earlier than usual in time to do the laundry and make dinner. Kyo had been confronted by a teacher while leaving the classroom and was tersely reminded of a pending half-hour detention he had forgotten to serve.

After sitting for thirty minutes listening to the teacher drone on about why you should not fall asleep in class, he was tired, bored, had a headache, and the last thing he wanted was to encounter annoying boys from his class who seemed to want to talk to him.

Satisfied that they had now gotten his attention, the three boys came closer to him, then looked at one another as though waiting for someone to speak.

"Well? Do you want something or what?" Kyo demanded, wanting to get home as soon as possible. "Don't just stand there wasting my time."

"We wanted to let you know that you have our support!" one of the boys declared suddenly, and the other two immediately rested their hands on Kyo's shoulders. "As your friends, we will stand by you! We will do our utmost to fight against the rumors-"

"What the hell?" Kyo pushed the boys away from him and glowered. "Friends? Do I even know you?"

"Of course you know us." the boy looked slightly hurt. "We're in all your classes except maths..."

"Oh yeah, you're the ones that always pat my head and call me Kyokyo." Kyo's glare deepened, before he asked, slightly confused, "What rumors?"

"Eh? He doesn't know about the rumors!" the boys crowded around him again before one of them leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially, "The whole school's talking about how you have to dance with your cousin! It won't be long before people start making assumptions about... things... and then-"

"WHAT?" Kyo screeched, his expression so livid that the boys backed off a pace.

"Don't worry! We know it isn't true!" they cried hastily. "That's why we are here to help and support you!"

Fuming, Kyo snatched up his school bag and marched off down the hall and out of the school, muttering under his breath.

* * *

Kyo slumped back on his bed, and felt a damp patch spread along his pillow under his head. His hair was still wet from the shower he'd just taken. He rolled over onto his side, debating whether to get started on his homework or have a catnap first, then winced as something hard and sharp in his trouser pocket dug into his leg.

Sitting up, he pulled out the offending item and frowned as he realized it was yesterday's sharp roof tile. Fingering it, he briefly considered throwing it away, but something stopped him. Numbly, he rolled up his sleeves and stared at his arms.

Gently he ran his fingers over his bandaged right arm, before turning his attention to his other arm.

_Unmarred... _ a sudden, unexplainable surge of rage gripped him, and his grip on the tile tightened. _The hell! It shouldn't be so... flawless like that! _Nothing_ about me should be like that! Nothing about me _is _like that!_

"_Never forget," _Akito's voice drawled in his mind, _"who you are. _What _you are. You're the cat – worthless, despised... your only purpose in life is so the rest of us can look at you and _be glad we're not you. _You don't deserve life, or love, or light... you're just a monster, a _creature_, doomed to wallow in darkness and self pity for the rest of your life..."_

Teeth clenched tightly and an inexplicable fury welling up in him, he slashed at his arm, feeling a jolt of satisfaction at each burst of pain.

_Worthless._

_Despised._

_Undeserving._

As suddenly as it arrived, the burning vexation left, leaving him sitting there, drained and tired. Feeling slightly detached, he sat in silence for a while, tile hanging limply in his fingertips and dimly aware of his arm burning.

"There Akito... you happy now?" he murmured eventually, before chucking the roof tile away and heading to the bathroom with the first aid kit.

_I have got to stop doing this... _he thought miserably as the blood-mingled water flowed down the drain and he wrapped his other arm in a bandage. _Although I feel kinda less stressed now... _

Yawning, he headed back to his room only to encounter Yuki in the hallway. The rat's eyes flicked down to the first aid kit that Kyo was still holding, before narrowing into a glare.

"What are you doing?"

"None of your business!" Kyo snapped, pushing past and heading into his room, shutting the door firmly behind him. As soon as he was alone, however, he slouched over and held his head in his hands, worn out. _Shit... the last thing I need is that damn rat suspecting something and going on about how pathetic I am. Not that he even cares._

Sighing, he decided he'd better get onto his homework and pulled his books out of his bag, his movements feeling sluggish and lethargic. He soon slipped into a monotonous daze, doing maths problem after maths problem routinely, and not really paying attention to what he was doing.

..._I think I'm going to fall asleep any minute._ He thought dimly, before being suddenly shocked into alertness by a loud, high pitched giggle and the sound of the door sliding open.

"Momiji?" he sat up straighter, glaring as the blonde boy pranced into his room and shut the door behind him.

"Shhh!" Momiji put a finger to his lips and grinned at Kyo, coming deeper into the room and peering around. "Momiji's hiding! Don't tell anyone I'm in here!"

"What?" Kyo spluttered. "Don't shush me! This is _my_ room! Where did you come from, anyway? What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Shhh!" the bunny said again, before spinning in a circle, looking around the room. "Umm... where can I hide?"

"You can't hide anywhere! Get out!" Kyo furiously gestured at the door, but Momiji ignored him, plonking himself on Kyo's bed and pulling all the bedclothes over him.

"Am I visible?" he asked, voice muffled by the blankets over him.

Kyo stared. Yes, Momiji was _very_ visible – a large, conspicuous lump under the sheets. He marched over to the bed and prodded the lump, prompting a giggle from the bunny.

"Yes. You're very obvious."

"Hahaha! This is the best hiding spot!" Momiji laughed. "Now shhh! They're coming to find me in a minute!"

Kyo sighed and half-heartedly continued his work, but was constantly distracted by giggles and shuffling noises from where Momiji sat. Finally it became too much to bear and he threw down his pen, turning to glare in the direction of the lump under the covers. "Will you _shut-_"

He was cut off mid-yell as the door slid open again, and turned, scowling. "There's this thing called _knocking_! It wouldn't hurt to do it once in a while!"

Hatsuharu blinked as he entered the room. "Nice to see you too Kyo. Is Momiji in here?"

There was a stifled laugh from the bed. Haru glanced over, and smirked as he took in Momiji's 'hiding' spot and advanced. "Hm... found you!" He whipped the blankets off and Momiji shrieked loudly before collapsing in a heap of giggles.

"What...are you two doing here, anyway?" Kyo asked, sinking back down into his chair and rubbing his temples. _Stupid headache coming back again..._

Haru strode over to Kyo and peered down at his maths work. "Hatori came over to give Yuki a check up, so Momiji and I decided to come with him."

Kyo frowned as he snapped his book shut. "What's wrong with Yuki?"

The cow stared blankly at him before replying. "Nothing. It's just a regular check up. Now... have you seen Tohru? She came back from work and agreed to play hide-and-seek with Momiji and I..."

Momiji leaped up and skipped over to Haru's side. "I got found first, so I'm going to seek next! But we needa find Tohru first! Do you wanna play, Kyo?"

"No! Now get outta my room!" Kyo strode over to the door, threw it open and waved his arms towards it. "Out. Leave."

"Nah... it's rather comfortable in here." Haru sat down in Kyo's chair and leaned back, folding his arms behind his head. "Nice and warm. It's pretty cold downstairs. Hm... where could Tohru be hiding? I've checked most of the rooms down there..."

"Get up, and get out." Kyo, now sizably pissed, grabbed Haru's shirt and tugged. The cow just sat impassively while Momiji skipped around humming to himself. Kyo gritted his teeth and yanked Haru off the chair. The cow tottered, off balance, and Kyo took the opportunity to shove him towards the door.

"Ah... I'll go find Tohru!" Momiji chirped, capering out of the room. Haru straightened his shirt and blinked at Kyo, who stood fuming and glaring. After a moment, the cow turned and walked off after Momiji.

Kyo shut the door, leaned against it and sighed heavily. His sigh turned into a yawn, and he stacked his chair and school bag against the door to keep Haru and Momiji out, before flopping onto the bed and straightening the covers.

_Why have I been so tired lately... mneh. _He dozed off to dreams about mysterious lumps under blankets and haunting maths problems.

* * *

Yuki flinched slightly as Hatori's cold stethoscope pressed against his chest. "Breathe deeply." the doctor instructed. Yuki proceeded to do so, then looked around as Momiji dashed into the living room, glancing at Hatori and Yuki before hollering, "Tohruuu! I'm coming to find yooou!"

"Ah...? I'm in here!" Tohru poked her head out of the kitchen, and Momiji laughed loudly.

"Tohruuu! You're not meant to tell us where you are! You should be hiding!"

"Sorry! I was hiding in the laundry when I remembered that my rice was cooking in here! I had to come check on it!" Tohru turned back to the kitchen and Momiji followed her, chattering excitedly.

"Yuki. Deep breaths." Hatori said sternly.

Haru wandered into the room and sat himself on the couch. "How's it going?"

"Fine. You seem to be in good health." Hatori put his stethoscope back into his bag. "Your asthma hasn't been giving you any trouble?"

"No." Yuki tugged his shirt back down as Shigure joined the gathering in the living room.

"Hatori! You and the kids should stay for dinner!" the dog suggested, steering Hatori towards the couch. "We need to talk! We haven't had a good long talk in ages!"

"Shouldn't you check with Miss Honda first?" Yuki pointed out, glancing towards the kitchen. "She's already started cooking..."

"Eh?" Tohru's head poked back around the doorframe. "It's fine, I can always make more rice! Would you three like to stay? We have plenty of food!"

"Oh, please please can we stay?" Momiji bounced back into the living room and gazed up at Hatori with pleading eyes. The dragon sighed and nodded. "Fine. We'll stay for dinner. Thank you."

"Yaaay!" Momiji grabbed Tohru's hand and pulled her back into the kitchen. "Come on! I'm gonna help you cook!"

"Oh...uh, okay!"

Shigure was waving for Hatori to sit on the couch next to Haru, but the doctor gestured towards Shigure's study instead. As the two men walked off, talking quietly, Yuki caught a few words of their conversation, among them Akito's name.

The rat frowned slightly, although he knew he didn't have any real reason to be worried. Still, he hated being reminded of the head of the family- he had a constant, nagging fear that at any moment Akito would summon him back to the main house and force him to stay there. It was taxing and rather stressful.

"Yuki!"

"Umm...eh?" Yuki shook himself out of his reverie and turned to find Haru peering at him. The ox patted the couch. "Come sit next to me."

"...I should probably get onto my homework." Yuki said. "I'll be back a bit later."

"...alright." Haru's eyes narrowed slightly. "You okay?"

"Hm? I'm fine." Yuki blinked. Haru watched him for a moment, then shrugged, and went to join Tohru and Momiji in the kitchen. The rat turned and headed up the stairs towards his room.

For the second time that afternoon, he encountered Kyo in the hallway. The cat was leaving his room and heading for the stairs, hair sleep-tousled and only looking half awake. He barely glanced at Yuki as they passed, which was surprising- normally he'd glare or mutter about the 'damn rat'.

Yuki entered his own room, but made no move to get his books, instead sitting on the edge of his bed and puzzling over his cousin's odd behavior. _What was he doing with that first aid kit earlier...?_

Shaking his head, he forced himself to get up and take his homework from his bag. _Why should I care what the stupid cat's doing? As long as he's not getting in my way or bothering Tohru..._

_

* * *

_Kyo rubbed his eyes and wondered why it was taking him so long to get awake. He still felt drowsy, even though he'd been up and moving around for a good ten minutes. _Probably stress or anxiety or whatever it is they're always going on about in personal development class..._

Yawning widely enough to make his jaw crack, he leaned closer into the couch, huddling against the arm rest and the back of the settee. _Why is it so damn cold down here...? I think we need to invest in a heater..._

Haru emerged from the kitchen, looking bored, and raised an eyebrow at him. Kyo glared back, then shifted uneasily as the cow sat down uncomfortably close to him.

"Hey." Haru said, resting one arm over the back of the couch, just above Kyo's head.

"...hi." Kyo replied, discomfited at Haru's close proximity. He narrowed his eyes, and Haru's eyebrows shot up again.

"Why so tense?" the cow asked cluelessly.

Kyo let out a hiss of annoyance. "Would you mind moving over a bit?"

Haru cocked his head, seemingly oblivious, then his eyes lit up as realization dawned. "Oh. I see. You have personal space issues."

"Whatever."

To Kyo's extreme annoyance, Haru smirked and leaned even closer towards him, then planted his hands on the couch either side of the cat, making him feel far too trapped.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kyo snapped, shrinking back slightly. "Shove off!"

Haru's eyes glittered, and Kyo thought for a moment that he had gone black. _What...but I didn't do anything to provoke him!  
_

"I just wanted to ask you something." Haru said mildly, and Kyo scowled. "Freaking cowboy, you don't need to loom into my face just to ask me something!"

"There's a story going around at school," Haru drawled, ignoring him, "that you and Yuki are dancing together or something. That true?"

Kyo stiffened, remembering what the three boys at school had told him. "Yeah. So what? We were forced to! It's for an assessment... not like I _wanted _to dance with that damn rat! And why's everyone talking about it anyway? It's not that big of a deal!"

Haru chuckled softly to himself, but stopped when Kyo pushed at his shoulder. "What?"

"If you don't mind, _I'd rather like to get off the couch now_." Kyo said pointedly, his tone very unamused. To his great displeasure, Haru just adjusted his position slightly and continued staring at him.

"What the _hell_, Haru? Get off me already! This isn't funny!" Kyo spat, continuing to push at Haru's shoulder.

"I'm not done yet."

"Then hurry up and tell me whatever you want to tell me!" He was sorely tempted to punch the ox in the face, but the last thing any of them needed was black Haru rampaging through the house.

The ox's expression turned serious, almost stern. "Okay. I'm worried about Yuki."

Kyo's grip on Haru's shoulder eased slightly as he stared, confused. "W...why? And why're you telling _me_?"

"This dance you're doing... you're getting marked on it, right? If you stuff up, Yuki will get a bad mark as well."

"Well...yes, I guess." Kyo said, not quite sure what Haru was getting at.

The ox's eyebrows drew together suddenly. "You'd better make sure you don't stuff up then. If you make Yuki fail... I will personally come over here and make you regret you were ever born."

_I _already_ regret I was ever born. _Kyo thought a touch sourly, but just glared at Haru and scoffed. "Why would I do that? I'd be making myself get a bad mark as well. Besides... it's _one_ assessment task. It's only for _one _subject. It's hardly going to affect his overall mark."

"You obviously don't get it." Haru said, his expression turning dangerously dark. "Yuki's good grades are important. He has to keep going to that school."

"Why?"

"That's what makes him happy." Haru replied vaguely, then his eyes focused sharply on Kyo. "Do you get it?"

_I couldn't care less whether the damn rat's happy or not. _In order to pacify Haru, however, Kyo nodded. "Yeah yeah, whatever. I wasn't even planning to deliberately fail the assessment task! Geez!"

"Good." Haru's expression cleared and he stood up, rubbing his shoulder. Kyo immediately shot up from the couch and moved a few meters away, glaring at the ox.

Haru blinked, then his face broke into a grin. "Heh. You're pretty funny, Kyo."

"You're a regular riot yourself." Kyo snapped back, exceedingly unimpressed.

* * *

"Akito's been unwell." Hatori commented after several moments of silence had passed. Shigure looked up from his cup of tea and watched his friend thoughtfully for a few moments.

"Akito's always unwell." he pointed out.

Hatori frowned slightly. "Well, yes, but he's taken a turn for the worse lately. He hasn't been able to go outside in a while, and his room has had to be kept dark in order to ease the headaches he's been getting. Needless to say, he's not in a very good mood."

"Oh dear me." Shigure said mildly, leaning back in his chair. He sobered after a moment though, and shot Hatori a worried look. "Well...I assume you're taking care of him, then."

"Of course. He'll be fine, but he's been asking to see you." Hatori replied. "I suggest you get over there as soon as possible."

"I'll try. I know he doesn't like to be kept waiting." Shigure drained his tea and stood up, sniffing. "Hmm... dinner smells about ready."

Hatori also stood, although he directed a suspicious glare at the dog. "I hope you're not trying to change the subject. I really do need you to go to Akito. He's been quite distressed as of late... Kureno's bearing the brunt of his temper."

"I know. And I will." Shigure patted Hatori's shoulder reassuringly as he opened the study door. "And I wasn't trying to change the subject – I think dinner really is ready."

Sure enough, the other five were already seated around the table, the food laid out, as the two men came to sit down.

"I hope we haven't kept you waiting." Hatori said as they began to dig in.

"Oh, not at all!" Tohru hastily assured him. "I mean... the food's still hot, and we really weren't waiting all that long! In fact it was only a few minutes!"

There was a moment of slightly strained silence, broken only by the sounds of people eating.

"S'good!" Momiji piped up with his mouth full, one chopstick hanging out of his mouth.

* * *

Yuki pottered around the house as he heard Hatori's car pull away and drive off. He glanced into the kitchen, but Tohru frantically assured him that she needed no help with the dishes. Shigure had vanished into his study, his homework was all complete, it was too late and dark to head out to the garden...

Yuki was bored.

Heading for the couch, he found Kyo already curled up on one side of it, possessively cradling the television remote. For lack of something else to do, Yuki sat on the other side of the couch, as far from the cat as possible, and turned towards the television.

"...heavy downpours and a rapid cold front can be expected to start tonight and continue tomorrow." the weather reporter announced, waving a hand at the chart. Yuki frowned – the weather today had seemed fine, a little grey, but otherwise alright.

Muttering from the other end of the couch had him turning to see Kyo scowling at the screen, as though the expected weather was the fault of the reporter. The rat couldn't help smirking at Kyo's reaction.

"... shut up, you stupid rat!" Kyo hissed, happening to see Yuki's expression.

"Hm? I didn't say anything." Yuki pointed out, rather amused.

"Yeah, well that stupid look on your face says it all!"

_He's talking nonsense..._ Yuki thought to himself, turning back to the screen. Kyo abruptly changed the channel, moving onto what looked like a soap opera.

"You can't leave me, Hiroshi!" a heavily made up woman wailed, cradling a hideously fluffy dog in one arm and a fan in the other. She reached beseechingly towards the camera. "Please... say you'll stay!"

A middle aged man with a ridiculously large quiff turned and adopted an expression that Yuki assumed was meant to look torn, pained and exceedingly distressed. In reality, though, he just looked constipated.

"I'm sorry Tatsushi...but I must go! You can do so much better than me! I'm not going to hold you back! I'm doing this for _you_!"

"What. The. Hell." Kyo breathed from the other end of the couch, and Yuki found himself struggling to hold back a snort of laughter.

The channel changed yet again, and Yuki pressed a hand to his mouth as Tom and Jerry raced across the screen. _How very appropriate..._

As they watched, the mouse ran into a convenient hole in order to escape from the cat. As the cat peered into the hole, the mouse ran out from a different, also very convenient hole, and snuck up behind the cat.

"What the hell is this?" Kyo muttered, and Yuki glanced over to find his cousin staring at the screen, engrossed, as though he'd never watched Tom and Jerry before.

Jerry tugged on the cat's tail, and Tom turned, wide eyed, staring from the mouse to the hole as though wondering how the mouse had snuck around without him noticing.

The mouse pulled a birthday cake out from nowhere and offered it to the cat, who accepted it with gushing thanks and obvious pleasure. One candle that was obviously a stick of dynamite was stuck into the cake, and blew up on Tom's face just as he made to blow it out.

Kyo twitched as the cat was charcoaled and the mouse snickered. Yuki noticed his cousin's fingers tightening on the couch's armrest as Jerry proceeded to beat up Tom with a frying pan, kick him into the trash can, set him on fire multiple times and trick him into eating several more sticks of dynamite, all the while foiling the cat's attempts to catch him.

"Damn this stupid cartoon!" Kyo snapped suddenly, making Yuki jump. The cat (as in, Kyo, not Tom) jumped up from the couch and jabbed violently at the television switch, turning it off, before stamping upstairs, growling under his breath.

Yuki sat in silence for a moment. _That was... odd. But understandable. _After all, he wasn't entirely certain how he would react if Kyo had changed channels to something containing a lot of mouse traps or rat poison.

"Umm... did Kyo go back upstairs?" Tohru asked, emerging from the kitchen with a tea towel in her hands.

"Yes. Do you need him?" Yuki asked, getting up from the couch.

Tohru shook her head. "Well... sort of, I need his clothes. I'm going to do the laundry now..." she glanced at the clock and tutted to herself. "I shouldn't have left it so late... but I think I can get it done tonight. Umm, I need yours too."

"I'll get mine and tell him to bring his down while I'm at it." Yuki told her. _After all, that's the reasonable thing to do..._

"Okay! Thank you. I'll be in the laundry." Tohru said, bustling off as Yuki headed upstairs.

* * *

Kyo dug his fingers into his pillow and twisted the soft material until it turned taut, seething with frustration. _It was just a stupid cartoon. _He told himself. _Nothing to get so worked up about... _He decided it was a combination of the impending weather, the current stress of his life and the cartoon hitting a little too close to home that was making him so edgy.

Someone knocked at his door, and he scowled, not in the mood to speak to anyone right now. "_What_?"

"Miss Honda needs your laundry." Yuki's voice came from the other side of the door, before his footsteps were heard walking away. Kyo sighed and rolled off his bed, picking out clothes which he deemed dirty enough to do with a washing.

And for the _third _time that day, he met Yuki in the hallway, almost bumping into him as he exited his room right as the rat walked past the doorway.

"...watch where you're going!" they said in unison. Kyo scowled and pushed Yuki aside, making the rat spill the pile of clothes he was carrying.

"What was that for?" Yuki demanded, bending over to pick them up.

Kyo smirked, then staggered as Yuki stood up suddenly and knocked into him. "What the hell, you damn rat! Don't touch me!"

"That was an accident." Yuki said frostily. "And you touched me first."

Before Kyo could think of a cutting retort, there was a faint patter outside, which steadily increased as the rain picked up volume. The cat sighed as he felt a nagging lethargy already beginning to take him over, and the will to argue with Yuki slipping away from him.

"Whatever...damn rat..." _What untimely weather_. He plodded down the stairs and dumped his laundry with Tohru, murmuring a good night before heading back to his room.

By the time he changed into pyjamas, fingers fumbling tiredly on the buttons, there was a full blown downpour outside, and he was suffering the effects.

_...shit. And we have double PE tomorrow as well..._ with a groan, he climbed into bed, leaning his head on one arm, then yelped as pain shot through said arm.

_Gah dammit. I totally forgot about that. _Although his eyelids were drooping, he took the time to inspect the three new cuts he'd instigated that afternoon, and was pleased to find that they weren't bleeding as much as the other ones had.

_Okay... I am seriously not going to do that again... _he thought drowsily as he felt himself beginning to doze off. _I'll just chuck away that stupid roof tile, it's probably covered in germs anyway. I don't wanna get infected. And all this cutting isn't worth the release it gives me._

This time, his dreams revolved around Yuki offering him dynamite cakes.

* * *

**Hmm... not really happy with how this chapter turned out. I sort of wrote a couple of hundred words, fell asleep, woke up, re read it, didn't like it and started again... blah haaargh. Umm, yes, sorry if this was disappointing or out-of-character. Nothing much seemed to happen this chapter... things will pick up in chapter four 8D And I'll try and give Yuki a more major role... sorry about this.  
**

**OKAY! Question time!  
1. Has everyone read far enough into the manga to know about Akito? Please tell me if you haven't and if you don't want spoilers, because it will affect what I plan to do later.**

**2. You guys are wanting this to be slash/yaoi, right? Let your opinion be heard!**

**Thank you for reading, if you did, and I hope you enjoyed it. I'll probably update fairly fast- yay, school holidays!  
**

**Thanks again.**


	4. Nightmares and Daydreams

Thank you to **teddibear16, invisiblelace, Haaaaaa, Janie27-27, stixnstones, _bob, llaelien_ and Lazy Gaga **for reviewing chapter three. Thanks also to **Barbequed baboons in a bath** for taking the time to message me about it. Hehe, I always get exactly eight reviews per chapter. Thanks guys.**  
**

**DISCLAIMER- I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**

* * *

**"_AKITO!"_

Kyo blinked awake, dimly aware that someone had screamed, and immediately almost fell asleep again. _After all... who the hell would be screaming at this time of night...or morning... or...whatever..._

His semi-awake mind was just drifting back into dreamland, when it suddenly wrapped itself around what he had just heard. Groggily opening his eyes again, Kyo forced himself to sit up. _Did someone just call out Akito's name...? _A jolt of trepidation passed through the cat at the thought of the family's head paying them an unexpected visit in the middle of the night. _...no... that's stupid. Akito's far away._

The rain was still coming down heavily outside, turning his limbs to lead and shrouding his mind, but he had a nagging feeling that something was wrong, and made himself roll out of bed and stumble over to the door frame, moving none-too-gracefully due to a combination of the rain, just-woken-up-fullness, and the chair sitting in the middle of the floor that he didn't notice until he walked into it.

_Shit. I thought cats were meant to be able to see in the dark...? _Kyo thought ruefully as he nursed his stubbed toe. Sliding his door open, he peered out into the dark hallway and shivered. _Dammit it's cold out here. Why did I get out of bed again? _

A clap of thunder sounded outside, making the hairs on the back of his neck rise. _Keh... perfect setting for a horror movie... _He still had a queer feeling that something in the house wasn't quite right. _Might be just nerves from the rain... either way, I'll just make sure the door's locked and check that Tohru's alright._

Loud snoring was coming from behind Shigure's closed door as he padded softly across the hall and down the stairs, almost tripping in the dark but not bothering to turn on any of the lights. After ensuring that Tohru was sleeping soundly and the front door was, indeed, locked, he headed back towards his room, slightly annoyed with himself for getting out of bed for nothing.

He hesitated as he came to the top of the stairs. All had been dark when he first left his room, but now as he returned, he could see a glimmer of light under Yuki's door.

_...why...why would he be up at this hour? Surely he isn't studying._ Frowning, Kyo crept closer, knowing he should just get back to bed but insanely curious as to what Yuki was doing. _Curiosity killed the cat..._

Hovering just outside the door, he pricked his ears, but couldn't hear any of the usual studying sounds of pages rustling and pen scratching across paper. _Maybe he's reading...? But in the middle of the night? He's already tired enough in the mornings. Maybe this is why._

Before Kyo could react, he heard footsteps coming towards the door and it slid open. Yuki stood in the doorway with one hand on the door frame, staring at Kyo, who had flung up one arm to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness of the light in Yuki's bedroom.

"...what are you doing?" Yuki asked quietly, folding his arms.

Kyo squinted as his eyes struggled to adjust to the change in light. "What... what are _you_ doing?" He swayed on his feet, the effects of the rain crashing back down upon him and doing their best to knock him out. Looking up, he noticed that Yuki seemed paler than normal, his eyes shadowed slightly. He looked exhausted – more so than usual.

"...I was going to get a drink of water." Yuki said flatly. "Is there a reason you were just standing outside my door?"

"Thought I heard something." Kyo mumbled, feeling strangely amicable towards Yuki for some reason. Shaking it off, he plodded off back to his room and crawled back into bed, the weather still bearing heavily on him.

* * *

Yuki watch Kyo retreat tiredly into his room and almost regretted seeing him go. Truth be told, he'd been somewhat glad to see his cousin, even under the strange circumstances. Nightmares about Akito had startled him awake, and the darkness and oppressive silence broken only by thunder had been starting to wear on him. Finding that he wasn't the only one awake in the house had been almost comforting.

Sighing, Yuki forgot about his water and went back into his room, shutting the door. He hesitated a moment before switching the light off, plunging himself into darkness again. He shuddered slightly, feeling alone and cold again, before sinking back into a restless sleep plagued with thoughts of the family head.

* * *

"Whoah. What's this?" Uo grinned as Tohru, Yuki and Kyo entered the classroom, shaking water from their umbrellas and setting them aside by the door. "You boys look like the living dead! Tohru's the only one who actually looks _alive_. What happened?"

Tohru laughed slightly nervously, glancing anxiously at the two boys. Yuki reassured her with a faintly strained smile. "Bad night. Must have been the rain."

"Bloody stupid rain." Kyo muttered angrily as he all but fell into his chair and rested his head on his arms, flinching slightly. "It rained all night and it's still raining! I mean what the hell! How much more water can there be up there?"

Uo flapped one hand at him as she leaned back in her chair, lazily painting her nails with liquid paper. "Better not fall asleep in class, Kyon, unless you want another detention. I think the teachers are losing patience with your little catnaps."

"Ohh...well... it really is coming down out there." Tohru glanced out the window at the grey sky, her eyes widening. "Do you think it will flood?"

"We might have to build an ark." Uo drawled. "Forty days and forty nights, right? Anyway, at least double PE will be cancelled, they can't possibly make us run around outside in this weather."

Yuki frowned as he sat at his own desk and put his bag under his chair. "Aren't we doing dancing? We can do that indoors."

"Hm... you're right." Uo grimaced, then grinned. "How's that going anyway? Did you see your fan club when you volunteered to dance with another boy? They were _livid_!" she chuckled to herself, blowing on her nails to dry them and moving on to paint her other hand. "I still can't believe you two are stuck dancing together."

"Yeah, rub it in why don't you..." Kyo grumbled wearily. He opened one eye and blinked at her. "Who're you dancing with anyway?"

"Some guy who's a head shorter than me..." Uo frowned. "It's kinda awkward. Oh, shut up." she added as Kyo sniggered.

* * *

Yuki suppressed a yawn as the PE teacher marched them towards the hall to practice their dancing. He wasn't feeling particularly energetic after last night's broken sleep. Add pestering girls from his fan club trying to persuade him to swap dancing partners and go with them instead, as well as ton of homework for both of the two subjects they'd had so far, and it all added up to a singularly unhappy mood.

"Alright class. Practice what we did last lesson – I want you to know the steps by heart and be able to do it all smoothly." the teacher ordered. "In the second half of the lesson, we will move onto something new. Now get going."

_This is going to be boring. And probably awkward. _Yuki thought to himself as he looked around for Kyo. The cat was on the far side of the room, looking asleep on his feet. _The rain really does take it out of him. _He could almost pity his cousin. Almost.

Yuki headed over slowly, not quite sure how he was meant to be acting around Kyo. Last night's little episode was still nagging on his mind, and he wasn't certain whether he was:

a) Annoyed with the cat for making him drop his laundry...

b) Passably cordial after that whole what-are-you-doing-outside-my-door incident...

c) Miffed with him as usual, for no reason other than that he was the cat and they had always hated one another...

or d) Willing to be tolerant and just get the whole thing over with, which was probably the smartest thing to do anyway.

"Why are ya just standing there, damn rat?" Kyo snapped, waving a hand in front of Yuki's face. "Hurry up already. Hellooo? Earth to Yuki?"

Yuki snapped out of his musing and glared at Kyo. _Alright then, I'll go with 'c', if he's going to act like that. What's up with that churlish attitude, anyway? I thought he was tired._

As it turned out, Kyo _was _tired, and being tolerant was easier said than done. He stood hunched over slightly, consistently messed up and forgot the steps, dragged his feet, kept letting go of Yuki's hand to cover his mouth when he yawned, and moved ridiculously slowly. Yuki could feel his patience slowly eroding.

When Kyo stepped to the right instead of the left for the eighth time, Yuki finally snapped. "For crying out loud! Can't you do anything right?"

"Shut your trap, damn rat..." Kyo perked up slightly as, outside, the rain slowed to a drizzle and began to ease. "It's not my fault there are so many freaking steps in this dance."

"Everyone else seems capable of remembering them." Yuki pointed out, glancing at the other dancing pairs, who were doing far better than they were. "But I suppose I should expect such moronicity from the stupid cat."

Kyo bristled, seeming to be regaining his energy as the rain outside ceased and the clouds began to lift. "Shut up, you filthy rodent! Let's just get on with this already!"

"We _would _have made a lot more progress if you didn't keep messing up the steps." Yuki said. "Let's start from the beginning again."

"Yeah, whatever." Kyo gingerly took Yuki's hand and they began, glaring at each other all the while. Three steps into the dance, Kyo blundered, stepped the wrong way, trod on Yuki's foot, and swore loudly.

Yuki let go of the cat and took a few steps back, shaking his head. "... you're such an idiot. This is hopeless."

"Maybe it wouldn't be so hopeless if you stopped being such a prick!"

"_Me_? You're the one who can't do anything right!" Yuki folded his arms. "That's it, we're not getting anywhere, I refuse to continue doing something as pointless as this."

"Yeah? Well I guess you're just gonna fail this assessment then!"

"I'm not going to dance with you..."

"Good! Cause I have _no _desire, _whatsoever_, to dance with _you_!"

"...until you memorize the steps of this dance." Yuki took hold of Kyo's collar and turned him to face the other dancers. "Watch them, _imprint into your memory_ what steps to do and _when_, and once you have _some idea of what you're doing_, we can continue. Get it?"

Kyo's eyes narrowed. "Don't... don't tell me what to do, you damn rat!"

Yuki rolled his eyes. "We can't continue until you know the steps. Therefore it makes sense for you to learn them. Right?"

"...right." Kyo admitted grudgingly. "Whatever." Muttering to himself, he turned to watch their classmates, eyes following their feet and what steps they took.

_So stubborn..._ Yuki sighed as he turned away. _Umm... what am I meant to do now? Just stand here?_

A chortling laugh came from the direction of Bing and Bong, who seemed to be doing more mucking around than dancing. Stiffening, Yuki closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as memories of his nightmares floated back into his head, Akito's almost hysterical laughter ringing in his mind.

_Calm down. It was just a laugh. People laugh all the time. No need to be paranoid... calm..._

_

* * *

Okay... forward, backward, right, left, across, across the other way, spin. That seems to be it. _Kyo ran the steps over in his mind. _Forward. Back, right, left, across, across, spin. Okay. Okay._

"Hey, I know them now." he said, turning towards Yuki. He frowned – the other boy had his back turned, one hand held up to his face. Kyo took a step towards him. "Hey!"

"Hm?" Yuki turned, a slightly blank look on his face, before he blinked and adopted a frown. "What?"

"I know the steps now." Kyo grumbled. _Geez, what's with him zoning out all the time? _"If you've quite finished daydreaming, let's get on with this already!"

"You're the one holding us up." Yuki shot back, but he sounded tired. Kyo shied slightly as they took hold of one another – he still couldn't get used to touching the rat in a way that didn't involve fighting. Shaking it off, he managed to get through the dance routine without forgetting any of the steps, although he did stumble awkwardly at one point.

"Okay..." Yuki said rather distantly once they had finished. Kyo's brow furrowed. _What's up with him? Why's he acting all depressed all of a sudden? Not that I care._

"Right!" the teacher clapped his hands together loudly, making Kyo jump. "The bell for the second half of our double is about to ring, so let's move onto something new. Everyone line up in front of me with your partners."

Kyo frowned as he noticed some of the girls in their class glaring at him as he went to stand next to Yuki. _Now his fan club hates me. Whatever._

"The second dance you need to be able to do for your assessment is the cha-cha." the teacher instructed. "Take hold of your partner's hands..."

_At least I won't have to hold the filthy rat so close for this dance..._ Kyo thought grumpily as he reluctantly held hands with Yuki. The teacher guided them through the dance, striding up and down and giving criticism to each pair as he passed them.

"Come on! Keep going! Forward! Backward! Cha-cha-cha! Left! Right! Cha-cha-cha! Forward! Across! Cha-cha-cha! Keep going! Uotani, you're not in time. Okay, now you both step to the side! Step in, step out! Cha-cha-cha! And now swap places with your partner."

_This is freaking confusing! _Kyo grumbled to himself as he attempted to listen to the instructions, move his feet and glare at Yuki at the same time.

"Now boys, spin your partners!" the teacher commanded, striding over to the Sohmas as Yuki rather awkwardly spun Kyo around.

"Both your arms should be higher when you spin." the teacher commented, taking hold of Kyo's forearm and pulling it up higher, dragging Yuki's arm along with it. Although his grip wasn't tight, it was enough to make the cat cringe and grit his teeth. _Shit, damn, shit, damn. Shit. Damn. Why the hell does someone always grab my arm when we're doing this stupid dancing thing?_

"Do the spin again." the teacher instructed, giving Kyo a slightly odd look. He nodded, looking satisfied as they tried it a second time. "That's better. Good."

* * *

Yuki slammed his locker door shut and sighed heavily. Although the weather had cleared up and it was now pleasantly sunny outside, his mood had plummeted into the depths of despair. And he wasn't even sure why.

_I was fine last night... _he thought ruefully, picking up his lunch and heading off down the corridor. _I guess all those nightmares have made me depressed. Gah Akito... can't he leave me alone even when I'm asleep?_

"Yuuukiii!"

Yuki had once read on a magnet that 'happiness is an unexpected hug'. In actual fact, he was far from pleased when Momiji charged up to him and clamped his arms around him, squeezing him tightly.

… _I never knew Momiji was so strong. _Yuki pried the boy off him and looked up to see Tohru, Hatsuharu and Kyo approaching.

"Hmm de dum dum daaa!" Momiji sang, prancing in a circle around Yuki, then bouncing up and down and waving at the other three as they approached. "Hello! Let's all have lunch together! Hi Tohru! Am I allowed to hug you?"

"Umm, maybe not at school." Tohru said carefully, sitting down and taking out her box of lunch. She turned to Yuki, "Umm. Do you mind if Haru and Momiji have lunch with us? Uo and Hana had to go to the office to hand in some notes."

"I don't mind." Yuki said carefully, as they sat in a rough circle and began to eat.

"Oh! Oh! Let's trade lunches around!" Momiji suggested brightly, waving his sushi in Kyo's face.

"No way! Stop that! Are you high on sugar or something?" Kyo slapped the sushi away and it fell to the ground. Haru immediately pounced on it.

"Three second rule!" the cow declared. "Lucky I picked it up quickly enough. Here Kyo, it's still clean." He offered the sushi to Kyo.

"What? No, it's not clean." Kyo edged away and gave Haru an odd look. "It fell on the ground. It's not clean at all."

"But I picked it up within three seconds." Haru closed one eye and scrutinized the sushi closely before taking a bite of it. "Haven't you ever heard of the three second rule?"

"That's stupid." Kyo pulled a face and watched in disgust as Haru polished off the rest of the sushi. "So if it fell in shit, but you still picked it up within three seconds, would you eat it?"

"Maybe you could wash it first." Momiji suggested. "But then it would get all soggy."

Yuki sighed as they began to bicker about whether an extra second made a difference to the amount of germs that would collect on the food. He resignedly ate his lunch, only half-listening to the conversation.

"Are you alright, Yuki?" Haru asked, turning away from the still-ranting Kyo and giving the rat a concerned glance.

"Yes. I'm fine."

"Hmm..." Haru appeared to think a moment, then turned back to Kyo, interrupting him. "Hey Kyo... why did the cat run from the tree?"

"...what?" Kyo asked, aghast. Yuki watched silently as his cousin's face changed from confusion, to thoughtfulness, to irritation. "Is this some sort of joke?"

"Because it was afraid of the bark." Haru said, deadpan, ignoring the fit of giggles Momiji unleashed. The cow glanced at Yuki for a second before asking Kyo, "Where does a cat go when it loses its tail?"

"This is stupid!" Kyo hissed. "And not at all amusing."

"The retail store." Haru continued impassively. "Can you think of one?"

Once again, the cow glanced at Yuki, who wondered just what he was playing at. _It seems like Haru's only intention is to rile Kyo up... but why does he keep looking at me?_

"What?" Kyo clenched his fists. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Haru, but stop with all the cat jokes! They aren't funny!"

"Alright then." Haru turned to Momiji and Tohru. "Can you think of one?"

"Ooh! I know! I know!" Momiji waved a hand in the air, and Haru nodded at him.

"Go on, Momiji."

"What do you get from a nervous cow?" Momiji asked enthusiastically. "Do you know? I bet you don't know!"

"Umm... I'm thinking..." Tohru murmured, resting her chin in her hands as she thought hard. "Ah... I'm not sure! What?"

"Milk shakes!" the bunny proclaimed happily, laughing. "Was that a good one?"

Yuki smiled slightly, and Haru looked briefly at him, a pleased expression on his face. The rat's eyes widened as he realized what Haru was doing. _Ah. I see. He's trying to cheer me up. … is it _that _obvious that I'm not feeling too happy? Well, it's working, anyway. _Sure enough, he could feel his gloomy mood lifting a little.

"What do you call cattle with a sense of humor?"

"Uhh... dunno."

"Laughing stock!"

* * *

"Voltage is a measure of the amount of electrical energy provided by a power source to push charges around a circuit. It is also sometimes referred to as 'potential difference'. This is because if measures the change in the stored or 'potential' energy of the charges..."

Tohru finished the next line of writing and shook out the cramp in her hand. She looked up at the teacher, who was still droning on, then glanced back down at her page of notes. _That should be enough to get me through the topic test next week..._

Turning to look around at her friends, she found Uo and Hana just sitting there gazing at the teacher, Uo looking bored and Hana looking... well, the way she normally looked, that indescribable Hana-ness.

Moving her attention to the boys, Tohru frowned. _Sohma-kun seemed really down before... although he cheered up a bit at lunch. And Kyo-kun has been spending a lot of time in his room lately... I hope they're okay. _She chewed the end of her pen nervously, pulling a face at the plastic taste. _Oh dear. Well, today's my last day of working late. Hopefully once I'm at home more they'll tell me if there's anything wrong, and I can try to help them._

"Honda."

"Ehh?" Tohru looked up to see the teacher standing over her, looking at her expectantly. "Umm, yes?"

"What is the difference between potential and kinetic energy?"

"Ahh..." Tohru furiously racked her brains for the answer. "Umm...it's... kinetic energy is the energy created when a body or item is moving... and... potential energy is created in a body or item's position relative to other things and... other factors."

"Good enough." the teacher moved on to ask another student a question, and Tohru mentally chided herself for her daydreaming. _I was lucky I knew the answer to that one... okay, concentrate! I must concentrate!  
_

She sat up straighter and began to listen attentively, nodding to herself every once in a while.

* * *

_This isn't good. _Kyo thought. _Hah! Understatement of the century. This is bloody terrible. What the hell am I meant to do now?  
_

He lifted the wad of tissues pressed against his arm and grimaced. While in the shower, his wounds had all opened for some inexplicable reason, and now they wouldn't stop bleeding. He'd managed to get to his bedroom, grab a box of tissues, and had been sitting for a good twenty minutes trying to stop the blood.

_Shit. All this drama over a few simple cuts. _Kyo chewed his bottom lip as he threw the now soaked tissues in the wastebasket and pulled out some new ones, pressing them to his smarting arms. _Can't they just heal like they should? Geez._

To be honest, he wasn't entirely certain what he would do if they didn't stop bleeding soon. Already he had a churning feeling in his stomach, his knees wouldn't stop trembling, and he was getting the light headed sensation again. _Shit. I am _not _about to faint like some weak_ girl_. Stay calm. Didn't Hatori once mention something about holding bleeding wounds higher than your heart?_

He tried holding his arms in the air, but then he just felt like an idiot, so he lowered them again. Grabbing for more tissues, Kyo frowned as he realized the box was empty.

"Well that's just what I need..." grumbling to himself, he wrapped more bandages around his arms and frowned as they were soaked through almost immediately. Hoping he could go downstairs, get new tissues and get back upstairs without dripping blood anywhere, he got up, swaying unsteadily.

_Shit. I hope this isn't going to be a replay of the other morning when I could hardly stand. _It was hard to walk in a straight line when the world was spinning around...

_This reminds me of when I used to sit on a swivel chair and twirl around until, even when I was still, the world kept spinning. … I can't believe I used to find that _fun. _Seems really stupid now. _Leaning on the banister to go down the stairs, he headed into the main room and walked into something tall and solid.

"Oof!" Shigure breathed. "Hey, Kyo, you walked into me!"

"I can see that!" Holding onto the side of the couch for support, he looked around the room. "There any tissues down here?"

"No, but there's paper towels in the kitchen." Shigure chirped. The dog frowned as Kyo headed into the kitchen, taking the entire roll of paper towels.

"Hey Kyo, why are you lurching around like that? It looks like you're drunk!" Shigure chuckled to himself. "What are you doing up there in your room? Have you got a secret stash of beer up there? Shame on you!"

"Shut up! I'm not drunk!" Kyo growled, starting back towards the stairs. Halfway across the room, he reeled to the side as a sudden bout of dizziness overcame him, stumbling into Shigure for the second time. The dog caught him and steadied him, looking rather puzzled.

"You sure you're not drunk?"

"Give it a rest! I'm _fine_!" Jerking away from Shigure, he marched upstairs as fast as he was able, sinking back onto his bed with a sigh of relief. "Stupid mutt..." He glared at the roof tile, still lying discarded on the floor where he'd thrown it the previous day.

The paper towels proved to be much more useful than the tissues – larger, thicker, and designed to absorb moisture. After using a third of the roll, the bleeding finally slowed to a sort of sluggish trickle. Heaving a trembling sigh of relief, Kyo reached for the first aid kit and found he was running out of bandages.

_Wonderful. I'll have to get more of these as well. At least there's plenty of band-aids left... not that they're much used to me._

And now that the almost-panic was over, he felt himself slipping back into exhaustion again. _So freaking tired lately... _

He refused to relate falling asleep to passing out.

* * *

Shigure stared in horror at the bead of blood on his finger tip. He picked up the offending piece of paper which had given him the paper-cut, and gave it a menacing glare.

"You _hurt _me." he said accusingly, then ripped the paper in half and threw it in the wastebasket. He licked the blood off his finger and winced as it stung.

_The small cuts hurt the most... _still sucking on his finger, he headed off to look for a band-aid. This proved to be a futile quest, as he had no idea where they were usually kept.

_And Tohru's still at work so I can't ask her... Ah! I know_! He grinned as he remembered the first-aid kit normally kept in the bathroom, and headed upstairs to get it. _Band-aids, here I come..._

"Hm... that's odd." Shigure frowned as he rummaged through the cupboard under the sink. "I thought we kept it in here. Maybe someone's taken it." He straightened and rubbed his back, slamming the cupboard door shut.

_Can I be bothered going to ask one of the boys where it is...? _He frowned a moment, measuring the pain of the paper-cut against how lazy he was. Finally he gave in and headed off to Yuki's room.

"What do you want?" Yuki asked, sliding open the door. Shigure beamed at him. "I need the first-aid kit! It's not where it normally is."

"Kyo has it." Yuki said flatly, shutting the door again.

_How pointless that was! I could have saved time by going to Kyo first... _Shigure frowned sadly for a moment over the pointlessness of life, before trotting off to Kyo's room.

"Kyo?" Knock, knock. "Kyooo?" Knock knock knock.

"Meh." Shigure opened the door and headed in. The first thing his eyes were drawn to was an object lying on the otherwise pretty bare floor, on the far side of the room.

"...is that a piece of my roof?" Shigure headed over and bent to pick it up. _The broken edge of a roof tile... looking somewhat bloodstained. Ooh, sinister. Like something out of a detective novel. But... why would Kyo have something like this in his room?_

Turning, he noticed his cousin curled on the bed asleep, the first aid kit strewn next to him. _Bingo! There it is! _

As he wandered over to pick it up, he caught sight of the wastebasket beside Kyo's bed.

_Tissues and bandages? Covered in..._

_Bloodstained roof tile._

_First aid kit._

Shigure's eyes darted around the room, his brows drawing together.

_Roof tile. Bandages. First aid kit._

_Blood._

The dog's eyes widened. He wasn't _that _stupid, and it only took a moment to put two and two together. Turning towards the bed, he reached for Kyo's wrist and gently pulled it towards him. The cat must have been sleeping deeply, because he only stirred slightly when Shigure lifted his arm and pulled back his sleeve.

His eyes narrowed.

Although Kyo's wrist seemed fine, his forearm was swathed in bandages, red spots already penetrating some parts. _What...Kyo..._

Grabbing Kyo's shoulder, Shigure shook him. "Kyo! Wake up. _Kyo_!"

When Kyo just shifted a little and murmured, Shigure prodded him, hard, before continuing to shake him. "Kyo! _Wake up!_"

* * *

Kyo's eyes flickered open as vigorous shaking roused him from his sleep. Blinking to clear sleep from his eyes, he turned and glared irritably at the shaker. _"What?"_

… _Shigure? _The momentary annoyance he felt at the fact that the dog was in his room, without invitation, gave way as he saw the look on his cousin's face. Far from the dog's usual jovial expression... Shigure looked serious. Solemn, almost.

_Did something happen? _Kyo's gaze fell to his arm, and he started as he realized that his sleeve was drawn back. _What... did he see... _his eyes flicked to Shigure's hand, and the roof tile he was holding.

"Kyo."

Kyo desperately tried to muster up a disgruntled, cross expression as he looked up at the dog, but knew it was painfully obvious that it was superficial.

Shigure carefully placed the roof tile on the floor and sat next to Kyo, pointing to one of his bandaged arms.

"Kyo... what's the meaning of this?"

* * *

**Bah. Typed some of this when I was half-asleep. I apologize for the poor quality...I don't like how it's turning out... um, yes. I'll stop whining now.  
**

**Thank you for reading, if you did, and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. I will try my utmost to update soon!  
**

**Thanks again.**


	5. Family Time

Thank you to **invisiblelace, teddibear16, mousecat, Haaaaaa, _die cliffhanger die_, Janie27-27, _llaelien_, stixnstones, Lightningstar 0.o and _Barbequed baboons in a bath _**for reviewing chapter four, as well as everyone who has read, favorited or alerted this story.

I apologize for the longish wait for this chapter. The dreaded writer's block has struck D8 as well as spending too much time watching the commonwealth games.

**DISCLAIMER- I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**

* * *

**"_Kyo... what's the meaning of this?"_

There was a moment of stifling, oppressive silence. Kyo looked stubbornly at his hands for a moment before glaring up at Shigure. He didn't like the look on the dog's face, it was disconcerting. He was used to Shigure's dimwitted, self-satisfied, lazy and occasional perverted moods, but not this. Not this uncharacteristically serious, almost stern mien... he could almost detect a hint of worry in the dog's eyes.

"Kyo..." Shigure prompted.

Kyo slowly pulled his lip back to bare his teeth, not at all sure of what to say. _He knows... what the hell am I meant to do now? Can't exactly deny it... not that I'm _ashamed _of it or anything. Or am I? Should this be something to be ashamed about? What-_

The next thing he knew, Shigure's arm was wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him closer. For a moment he was too shocked to move or do anything – his cousin had never made any move to touch him before, a hug was the last thing he was expecting, and to top it off, Shigure smelled like tea.

"Kyo... why would you... do something like that?" the dog asked in a hushed voice. Snapping out of his daze, Kyo jerked into action and hit Shigure on the chest, hard, shoving him away.

"Why do you care?" he hissed. "Does it matter? It doesn't matter." _I have no idea what I'm talking about. Or doing. Shit. _

Shigure blinked at him, an almost hurt expression on his face as he rubbed his chest. Abruptly, he threw the roof tile into the wastebasket near Kyo's feet, making the cat jump, before he slid open the door and headed out.

_Is that... it? _Kyo thought, not sure what to do next. _Is he just going to leave it? He doesn't care about it. _For some reason, that thought caused a dull pang in his chest. _What the hell. Wait... does he think I was trying to _kill_ myself? Shit. It wasn't like that. _Jumping to his feet, he marched after Shigure.

"Where are you going?" He demanded, catching up to the dog on the stairs and following him into the hall.

Shigure picked up the phone and began to dial a number. "I'm calling Hatori."

Kyo snatched the phone and slammed it back down. "I don't need Hatori!" He had a strange, agitated feeling in his stomach that he wasn't quite sure about, and he felt a shade nervous for some reason. "I wasn't... it's not what it looks like."

Shigure had his head down, more still than Kyo had ever seen him. Without looking at the cat, he reached out and firmly took hold of the telephone.

"Go sit on the couch." he said, and his tone of voice was so somber and so unlike anything Kyo had heard from him before, that he found himself obeying.

* * *

Shigure was shaken.

It was with extreme self control that he calmly dialed Hatori's number and told him to come over immediately, put the phone down and stood for a moment, making sure he was composed. What he really wanted to do was race over to Kyo and shake him by the shoulders, demanding to know why he would even _think _about doing something like... that.

_But isn't it obvious? _Shigure thought bitterly. _I'd heard that some of the previous cats committed suicide... _he shivered slightly. It was disquieting to think that his cousin had been cutting himself right under his nose, and he hadn't suspected a thing.

Turning slowly, he headed for the couch, where Kyo was sitting, watching him.

"Hatori's coming." he said shortly, not really trusting himself to speak lest he say something that made matters worse. _Ha. Normally I'd just blurt out the first thing that comes into my head... what am I meant to do in a situation like this?_

"... don't tell Tohru." Kyo choked out suddenly, before looking away, seemingly rather distressed.

Shigure nodded slowly. "I don't think she needs to worry about this right now." he frowned, taking a seat next to the cat and heaving a deep breath. "Kyo... I really do not know what to say."

"That makes two of us." Kyo grumbled.

Shigure sighed. "...will you talk to me?"

Kyo shifted uncomfortably, unconsciously tugging his sleeves down a little. "About what?"

"About that." Both of them had their eyes trained on Kyo's arms. The cat closed his eyes, exhaling loudly.

"... I wasn't trying to kill myself." he said finally.

Shigure raised his eyebrows. "Kyo... you were cutting yourself. With a _roof tile_. Did you see how much blood there was in that wastebasket? I don't... I mean, I know nothing about our life, particularly yours, is easy, but... you've never shown any signs of wanting to do something like _this _before."

"... you don't get it." Kyo said flatly. "But I wasn't trying to kill myself. At all."

Shigure got up with another sigh. "...I'm going to make some tea." _Maybe Hatori will have more luck._

_

* * *

_Yuki wasn't sure what was going on. He had heard Shigure go into Kyo's room and spend longer than he would have thought necessary in there, before they both left and went downstairs. He then heard their voices, but couldn't make out the words, and now … all was rather ominously silent.

Laying down his stationary, Yuki glanced at the time. Still an hour until Tohru was due to come home. Exiting his room, the rat headed downstairs and into the kitchen, where Shigure was watching the kettle boil, a comparatively solemn expression on his face.

Yuki cleared his throat, and the dog turned.

"Well hello there Yuki!" Shigure said a little too cheerfully. "What have you been doing?"

"Homework." Yuki frowned. "...did you get the first aid kit?"

Shigure was silent for a moment. Finally he shrugged. "Decided I didn't need it." He seemed to think a moment, then turned and gazed seriously at Yuki. "Hatori's coming over in a bit, alright?"

"...okay." Yuki replied uneasily. _What's going on here...? _"What for?"

"He's just checking up on Kyo." Shigure turned as the kettle finished boiling and began brewing the tea.

Yuki's frown deepened. _Eh? But he was fine today... a bit tired, but still fine. Not that I really care. I just... want to know to sate my curiosity. _"... what's wrong with him?"

Shigure looked back at him, and there was a discomforting, almost challenging light in his eyes. "If you care to know... you can ask Kyo yourself."

Yuki blinked, then shrugged and walked out of the room.

* * *

Kyo really had no idea what he was feeling right now. Guilt? Trepidation? Sometimes he just wished everything could be divided easily into 'happy' and 'sad'.

_...well I'm definitely not happy. _He looked up as Yuki entered from the kitchen and stared at him for a moment. _Shit. Did Shigure tell him? _"What the hell are you looking at, you damn rat?"

"You, obviously."

Unable to think of a smart reply to that, Kyo huffed and turned his attention back to picking the stuffing out of a rip in the side of the couch. When he looked back up, Yuki was still staring at him, a slight frown on his face. Annoyed, he stared relentlessly back at the rat.

Yuki stared.

Kyo stared.

_I never really noticed it before..._ Kyo mused, _but Yuki isn't as perfect as I always thought. _Where before he'd always had the impression of impeccable hair and flawless skin and clothes, now that he was regarding him really closely, he could see wisps of hair out of place, slight shadows under eyes from lack of sleep, faint creases in clothes...

"What's this? Kyo and Yuki gazing dreamily into one another's eyes..." Shigure waltzed back into the room waving the tea pot, and Kyo quickly looked away, glaring at the dog. Shigure just stared back at him, and Kyo cringed - Shigure's attempt at a joke had seemed painfully strained. He wondered if Yuki had noticed.

"Tea, anyone?" Shigure offered, and both boys shook their heads.

"More for me then..." Shigure poured himself a cup and sipped it. He immediately pulled a face, yelping and spluttering. "Gah! It's still hot!"

Yuki shook his head in exasperation, then cocked his head as there came the sound of a car pulling up outside. "That'll be Hatori."

"Ahhh." Shigure said, and put down his tea, hurrying to open the door. Hatori strode into the room, his case in one hand and a rather stern and irritated expression on his face.

"Tea?" Shigure offered, closing the door.

Hatori's brow furrowed. "Shigure, I'm not here for a tea party." he said quietly. "Akito's not happy that I had to run off so suddenly. We'll need to make this quick, I have to get back. What's the problem?"

"Ahhh...didn't I tell you on the phone?"

"No."

A moment of awkward silence.

"I would appreciate it if you could hurry this up a little." Hatori said, setting his case down on the table and folding his arms. Both Kyo and Shigure turned to look at Yuki.

"...would you like me to leave the room?" the rat asked. "And if not, could someone tell me what's going on?"

Shigure looked at Kyo, who shifted uncomfortably. "...yeah. Just leave."

Yuki shrugged and headed back upstairs. Hatori turned his gaze to Shigure, looking puzzled and a little annoyed. "What, exactly, is the problem?"

"Right. The problem." Shigure moved to take hold of Kyo's arm, but the cat jerked away.

"I can show him myself!" Kyo snapped, then bit his lip as he rolled his sleeve back, extending his arm towards Hatori, who moved over to the couch and crouched down for a closer look.

"Hm." the dragon said. "What happened here?"

"I... um." _What the hell. Just say it. _"I-"

"...he did that himself." Shigure piped up quietly.

To Hatori's credit, he didn't let anything show on his face as he gently turned Kyo's arm over in his hand. "Well. This is... hm."

Kyo fidgeted uncomfortably as Hatori, unruffled, began unwrapping the bandages. Shigure hovered nearby, making rather unhelpful noises of concern.

"... both arms?" Hatori asked quietly. Kyo nodded mutely. _Dammit. It doesn't matter that he's found out. I wasn't going to continue with this stupid cutting business anyway. It's fine. It's _fine_._

Shigure audibly sucked in his breath as Hatori pulled away the bandages on both arms. Kyo shot the dog an annoyed glare, but couldn't help cringing at the sight of his own torn skin. It really did look rather terrible. _Surely I didn't... at the time it didn't seem like I was cutting _that _much..._

"...what did you use to make these?" Hatori asked.

"Broken roof tile. It was sharp..." Kyo mentally shook himself. _What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I acting so... _placid_? I should just shove Hatori away and tell them I don't need a doctor. Gaaah... I just want to sleep._

"Hm. That's rather unsanitary. These could easily have become infected." Hatori chided, reaching for his case and rummaging around inside it. "I'll disinfect and dress these wounds. This may sting a little."

Kyo winced as Hatori wiped at the cuts with an antiseptic swab. "Ow! That- shit, now they're bleeding again."

"Oh my!" Shigure peeped as Hatori calmly began mopping up the blood that was welling from the cuts. The dog leaned over and grabbed Kyo's shoulder as though to reassure him, although it seemed more like he was trying to steady himself at the sight of the blood.

"When did you do this?" Hatori asked, rummaging in his bag and producing dressings and bandages.

"Couple of days ago."

"Alright." Hatori finished binding up both arms and handed Kyo several rolls of bandages. "Change them daily. If it's too hard doing them with one hand, get Shigure to help you. Try to keep the wounds clean. And... try not to fight with Yuki until they're healed, you don't want these to open again."

"Okay..." _Is that it? He's not going to... lecture me or say anything about it?_

Hatori picked up his case, shooting Shigure a glance. "Kyo..."

"What?" Kyo stuffed the bandages in his pocket and looked up at the dragon. Hatori sighed and ran a hand over his face, before gazing at the cat with something akin to concern in his eyes... well, eye.

"I know it goes without saying... but don't cut yourself like that again."

"Well duh." Kyo snapped, frowning. "I wasn't planning to! And... I wasn't trying to..."

"Cutting can be addictive." Hatori said. "You might resolve to stop now, but later..." he trailed off and shook his head. "I can't pretend to know what you're going through, but... speaking not just as your doctor, but as your _family_... don't do something like this again." Turning away abruptly, he headed out the door.

"Ah... Hatori! I'll see you to your car." Shigure glanced at Kyo before hurrying after Hatori.

… _that was odd. _Kyo shook his head, fingers clenching around the roll of bandages in his pocket. _Shigure and Hatori acting as though they _care_. Pfah._

_

* * *

_Hatori slid into the driver's seat of his car, turning to look at Shigure. The dog hovered in the doorway, hands tucked into his long sleeves. "Hatori..."

"... you could have warned me on the phone, Shigure." Hatori ducked his head for a moment. "I expect you to keep a close eye on him from now on."

"I will, of course I will, but... he was acting _completely normally_!" Shigure thought for a moment. "Well, I mean... he was just sitting in his room or on the roof all day, but still. You know Kyo. He's _strong_. Why..."

"He's the _cat_, Shigure. That's enough to drive a person to suicide." Hatori shook his head. "But I don't think he was trying to kill himself. In fact, self-harming is a way of coping, to go on living, absurd as it sounds. It's a way of... drowning one pain in another, so to speak. In order to block out emotional pain, he creates physical pain. Bleeding can also be a form of stress relief, albeit counterproductive."

"I see... sort of." Shigure rubbed his head, frowning. "...I think I need more tea."

"This must have been stressful for you." Hatori observed sternly. "Take care of him, alright?"

"I will." Shigure stepped back and shut the car door, raising a hand in farewell as Hatori started the car and began to drive off. A few meters away, the car stopped and Hatori wound down the window, leaning out to look back at Shigure.

"Can I expect you at the main house within the next few days?" the dragon called out. "I already told you, Akito wants to see you."

"I'll be there." Shigure replied, then waved until the car drew out of sight.

* * *

Yuki slumped on his bed, confused and a little put out. _Gah. Well... I guess it's none of my business what's up with Kyo, but still... I wish they wouldn't keep me in the dark like this. But I guess if Hatori was inspecting his... privates, or something, he wouldn't want me standing over his shoulder watching._

Drumming his fingers against the mattress, Yuki let out a huff of breath. _Ugh... what is wrong with me? Why do I even care what's wrong with the stupid cat? I hate him. _Or did he? It seemed like the last few days, he hadn't felt the usual intense detestation for his cousin. Irritation, yes, when Kyo was being obnoxious or uncooperative, but hatred?

_Probably because we haven't fought for a while. _Yuki decided. _I'm sure the next time we have a row everything will go back to normal. But... that's another thing. He seemed really... spiritless back there with Hatori._

Yuki shifted restlessly.

_I hope he's okay._

The thought flashed through his mind, leaving him reeling. Pressing his hands to his mouth as though that would somehow undo what he had just thought, he forced his mind to backtrack a few paces. _What... I did not... gah! I have enough to worry about already without that stupid cat adding more to my trouble! I do not care _at all_ what's wrong with him. I... _

His fingers clenched in the bedsheets, clutching tightly enough that his knuckles turned white. Why did he feel... guilty? As though he was lying to himself? _This is so... I mean... I don't... there is no reason, _at all_, for me to concern myself over that disagreeable cat! He's not even a proper part of the family! He's just a..._

_...monster?_

Yuki bit his lip, confused and uncertain. _Back in the main room... when I was looking at him... _He shook his head, recollections of crimson eyes and reciprocal staring flashing through his mind. _I didn't see a monster. I saw..._

_I'm not sure what I saw._

Rousing himself, he sighed heavily as he pulled himself to his feet and headed downstairs, hoping Tohru would be home soon.

_Why do I feel as though life just got a whole lot more complicated?_

_

* * *

_"I'm back!" Tohru called out as she stepped out of her shoes and headed into the house. "Umm..."

"Ah, Tohru! How lovely to see you again!" Shigure shuffled out of the kitchen and beamed at her. "I was just making some tea! How was work?"

"Good, thanks..." Tohru made to go upstairs, but the dog suddenly stepped in front of her, the steam from his tea wafting up to frame his furrowed brows, making him look rather fierce.

"Tohru. Could we talk, for a moment?"

"Uhh, sure." Tohru put her bag down and looked expectantly up at him. "Where are..."

"The boys are both in their rooms." Shigure told her. "Now... this was your last day of working late, wasn't it?"

"Yes..." Tohru frowned worriedly. "I'm sorry if I've been spending too much time away! I'll clean the house and everything tomorrow, I've done most of my school work in advance so I'll have time-"

"Oh, that's fine, that's fine." Shigure reassured her. "What I wanted to say was... hm, how to phrase this." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Tohru blinked up at him, not quite sure what he was getting at.

"Umm..."

"Well you see," Shigure said, "Kyo's been feeling quite down lately... no, no, don't start apologizing!" he quickly held up a hand as Tohru opened her mouth. "Of course it's not your fault that you've been working so late and didn't notice – in fact, I didn't notice myself for a while!"

"Um." Tohru said. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine, but..." Shigure's expression sobered as he spoke. "I think now, more than ever, he'll need you to be there for him."

"Well... of course I'll do everything I can to make him feel better!" Tohru said uncertainly. "Did... something happen?"

"Sort of..." Shigure shook his head. "I'm sure he'll tell you himself when he's ready. Just keep an eye on him at school for me, could you? And try to keep him out of fights, if you can."

"Sure." Tohru said worriedly. _Oh dear. I was right. Kyo _has _been feeling depressed lately. _"I'll do that."

"Good! Well, why don't you go get changed and then we'll have some tea together?" Shigure suggested, draining his cup and pouring himself another one. Tohru nodded and picked her bag up, heading for her room.

Upon returning to the kitchen, however, she was surprised to find Yuki cradling the teapot. Looking around, she frowned. "Ah... where'd Shigure go?"

"He decided he had some urgent 'work' to attend to." Yuki said, rather disbelievingly. "Tea, Miss Honda?"

"Yes please." Tohru accepted the tea and blew on it to cool it. "I'll get started on dinner in just a minute."

"Alright..." Yuki glanced around the kitchen and then turned back to Tohru. "Was Shigure talking to you before?"

"Yes..."

"Did he..." Yuki trailed off, swallowed, and asked slightly awkwardly, "Did he say anything about Kyo?"

"Yes..." Tohru said again, unsure how much Yuki knew. "He just said he was feeling down and asked me to keep an eye on him at school."

Yuki nodded slowly. Tohru blinked, then asked, "Ah, do you know anything else about this? Shigure didn't really tell me that much."

"No... he wouldn't tell me anything either." Yuki frowned. "Hmm..."

"I hope Kyo's okay." Tohru sighed, then looked up, puzzled, as Yuki's frown deepened. "Sohma-kun? Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine." Yuki assured her hurriedly. Tohru stared worriedly at him.

"Umm, are you sure? You've seemed a little bit down yourself lately." she commented. "Tired, too. Is there something wrong?"

"No, not really." Yuki said, getting up. "I'm quite alright. Do you need any help with dinner?"

"Hm? No, It's fine." Tohru finished her tea and also got to her feet. "I'd better get started then..."

* * *

There was an uncomfortable silence all through the meal. Shigure munched his way solidly through his food and a second helping, while the other three squirmed and waited for someone to say something.

"So..." Tohru piped up eventually, once everyone had finished. She began picking up the dishes. "What's everyone going to do now?"

"Ah!" Shigure clapped his hands together loudly. "I thought we should all spend some quality family time together!"

Yuki frowned. _Since when has Shigure been interested in _family time_...? _Glancing at Kyo, he saw that the cat looked similarly puzzled.

"That sounds like a great idea, Shigure!" Tohru said happily. "I'll just do the dishes first..."

"Count me out." Kyo growled, standing up. "I'm going to bed."

"But Kyo!" Shigure cried. "Didn't you hear Tohru? She thinks it's a good idea! You wouldn't want to disappoint her, would you?"

"...gah." Kyo sat down again, glaring at the dog. "Every time I decide I don't want to do something, you either tell me I'm disappointing Tohru or say I'm too scared to do it!"

"Well... it always works." Shigure beamed. "Now... we'll just finish the dishes first."

"Don't you mean, _Miss Honda_ will finish the dishes while _you_ just sit there?" Yuki pointed out, getting up and going to the kitchen to help. After a moment, Kyo sighed and followed him.

"Hmm. I think three people should be enough to wash the dishes." Shigure mused to himself. "I wouldn't want to get in their way."

Once this chore had been completed, and they were all seated around the table again, Shigure rubbed his hands together. "What shall we do first? How about a board game?"

"Fine. What board game?" Yuki asked.

Shigure blinked. "I think... chess!"

"...that's a two player game." Yuki pointed out. "How are we meant to play it?"

"We'll do it in teams of two!" Shigure said cheerfully, bounding over to the cupboard and rummaging around inside. He produced a rather battered chess set and threw it down on the table, sitting back down. "I'll be with Tohru since she's already sitting on this side of the table with me. You two boys are together."

Yuki and Kyo glanced at one another. Yuki sighed. _Great. As if it's not bad enough that I already have to work with him at school..._

"... you're doing this deliberately." Kyo hissed.

Shigure shrugged. "It should make things interesting! Now, do you want to be black or white?"

"Umm, I don't mind swapping teams if one of you wants to be with Shigure..." Tohru suggested.

"It's fine, Miss Honda." Yuki said. "We'll be black..."

Of course, barely five minutes into the game, a fight began to break out. Yuki glared and stopped Kyo's hand before he could move the next piece.

"Don't move there."

"Why not?" Kyo snapped.

"If you move there, they can get us with their knight." Yuki pointed out.

"Yeah, but then we can get their knight with our rook." Kyo gestured furiously at the board, glaring at Yuki.

Yuki looked at the pieces for a few seconds, then shook his head. "It's not worth losing the bishop."

"Yeah it is."

"Besides, if you do that, there'll be a big gap here and they can come through with their queen."

Kyo tilted his head. "...no they can't."

"Yes they can, see?" Yuki pointed.

Kyo frowned. "They can't, that piece is in the way."

"But the whole point of your plan is to get them to move that piece!" Yuki retorted, frustrated.

"No it isn't, the whole point of my plan is to get them to get our piece so we can get theirs." Kyo hissed.

Yuki sighed. "They have to move their piece to get our piece. Obviously."

"Fine then, what do you suggest we do?" Kyo growled. "We can't move those pieces or the king will be exposed."

"I know." Yuki frowned and studied the board for a few minutes. "We could move the bishop there instead... that way they can't move any of those pieces without exposing their king."

"... they could just get the bishop with the queen."

"But then we'd get their queen with this pawn." Yuki smirked triumphantly. "They won't risk losing their queen."

Kyo thought about this for a few seconds, then wrinkled his nose. "...I don't like your plan."

"Why? What's wrong with it?" Yuki asked. "It's better than yours, at any rate."

"We're waiting over here." Shigure sighed impatiently. "Hurry up and decide what you're going to do."

"Umm, you could move that piece there." Tohru suggested, pointing. Shigure furiously shushed her. "Don't help them!"

Yuki moved the piece to the square he had suggested. "There."

"Hey! I didn't agree to that!" Kyo moved the piece back. "We're moving it here." He promptly moved it to the square _he _had suggested.

"Hmm... well, it looks like you've lost your bishop." Shigure said smugly as Tohru moved their knight, knocking their piece off the board. "Ho ho ho."

"You walked right into the trap!" Kyo crowed, ignoring Yuki's black look as he moved the rook to capture the knight. "Now _you've _lost _your_ piece."

"Hm." Tohru and Shigure whispered to one another for a few moments, before Shigure turned back to the board.

"Well now... your moving that piece has left a nice gap here for us to put our queen through." he smiled contemptuously as he picked up the white queen and moved it along the board. "Check!"

"Stupid cat! I told you not to move there!" Yuki scoffed. "Didn't I tell you he would do that? You should have listened to me!"

"Yeah well... I bet _your _plan wouldn't have worked either!" Kyo retorted somewhat lamely. "Whatever, what are we going to do now?"

"You two have spent half the time arguing." Shigure yawned. "We'll never finish tonight if you don't pull your act together."

"Shut up, you're the one who put us on this team together!" Kyo growled. He picked up their king and moved it to a different square. "There, I moved, we're out of check. Hurry up."

"Idiot!" Yuki groaned as Shigure, looking incredibly self satisfied, moved another of his pieces down the board.

"Bad move, Kyo. Checkmate!" the dog chortled. "Hee hee! We won!"

"...yay!" Tohru said uncertainly.

Kyo stared at the board, not entirely sure what had just happened. "Hey, but, you... I see." he scowled as he sat back, angrily picking up the chess pieces. "That was boring! Let's do something else!"

"I didn't find it boring! Kyo's a sore loseeer!" Shigure jeered, still looking overly pleased with himself.

"Stupid! Why didn't you wait for me to work out what to do?" Yuki snapped as he cleared the board and began to pack up. "If you hadn't made that move so impulsively, we might not have lost!"

"Know-it-all!"

"Moron!"

"Uptight, sanctimonious bastard! Everything you say is just a load of hot air!"

"Monster!" The word came out unwillingly, and Yuki was as surprised as the other three to hear himself say it. He heard Tohru gasp, saw Kyo flinch slightly, and the next thing he knew, a fist was flying towards his face.

He blocked it easily and glared at his cousin. Kyo eyes were narrowed and he was hissing in a truly catlike manner as he threw another punch at Yuki. The rat dodged and made to punch back, when Shigure stood up suddenly.

"Enough!" the dog said loudly, and both boys turned in surprise. Yuki frowned. _Shigure's never made to interfere in our fights before..._

"We are now going to watch television." Shigure declared. "Tohru shall choose the channel, and you shall sit on opposite sides of the couch!" He preened as though he had just come up with a truly genius idea.

"That's fine by me." Kyo growled, marching to the couch and settling himself at one end of it.

Yuki raised his eyebrows and moved to the other side of the couch, Tohru seating herself next to him and Shigure squeezing himself into the last remaining space. It was rather cramped, and Yuki was so pressed against Tohru that he feared he would transform.

"Ugh. We're packed like sardines." Kyo coughed, giving voice to Yuki's thoughts. "I'm sitting on the floor." He promptly moved off the couch and placed himself on the floor by Shigure's feet. The other three shuffled over, breathing sighs of relief as there was now more room.

"Okay!" Shigure rubbed his hands together eagerly. "What are we watching?"

"Umm..." Tohru switched on the television and flicked through various channels. "I'm not sure. Nothing much seems to be on."

"Ooh! Iron Chef! How about that?" Shigure suggested.

"Hey, I thought Tohru got to choose." Kyo accused, turning to glare up at the dog.

"I don't mind!" Tohru said brightly. "There's not really anything else on I want to watch, so... Iron Chef it is!"

Yuki sighed as the program began. _I don't think I care much for this whole 'family time' thing... _He found himself turning to look at Kyo, who seemed more interested in picking lint off the edge of the couch than watching. _...That fight – if it can even be called a fight, it only went for about two seconds – really didn't make me feel better. Now I'm confused._

Kyo chose that moment to look around and catch Yuki's eyes on him. "The hell! Will you stop _staring_ at me all the time? What are you, some kind of stalker?"

"We're trying to watch TV over here." Shigure interrupted. "Keep it down, please."

"I'm going to bed." Yuki decided, getting up. Tohru looked over at him. "Ah... goodnight, Sohma-kun. I might go myself now. Goodnight Shigure, Kyo."

"'night..." Kyo muttered, sitting back on the couch now that the other two had left.

* * *

Yuki froze as he reached the bottom of the stairs, hesitating from turning into the living room. From here he could see, and hear, Shigure and Kyo from where they still sat on the couch, but as their backs were turned, they couldn't see him.

He silently debated on whether or not to walk past them into the kitchen to get his drink, but eventually decided against it. _It's not eavesdropping if I'm not deliberately listening. I just happen to be standing here, and they just happen to be talking loudly enough for me to hear._

"Stay out of my business." Kyo snapped.

There came a tutting sound from Shigure. "You heard what Hatori said. Don't fight with Yuki."

"It's not my fault if he keeps provoking me! Besides, we always fix your house for you anyway."

"To be fair, a lot of the time you provoke him first." Shigure pointed out. "And... it's not just about the house."

"What the hell is it about then?"

"It's about _you_, obviously!" Shigure sounded frustrated, something Yuki didn't often hear from the dog. "I'm not going to sit by and watch you deliberately get into a fight!"

"You've never cared before whether Yuki and I fight." Kyo snapped.

"This is different. That was _before _you..." Shigure sighed loudly. "What I'm trying to get at is, I'm not going to let you use Yuki as a way to get yourself hurt."

_Use me? What... _Yuki shook his head, straining to hear more, not really caring whether or not it was 'eavesdropping' now that he was being mentioned in their conversation.

"Yuki has nothing to do with this!" Kyo stood up, and even from this distance Yuki could see how tense he was, fists clenched tightly at his sides. "Why is everything always about that damn rat?"

"Kyo..."

"If you have nothing important to say to me, shut up. I'm going to bed."

"Kyo! For your own good, stop fighting with Yuki, at least until you've healed! You're taking this too far – I mean, you've _already_ taken this _much_ too far, but you're taking it even _further_ if you think that getting beaten up by him will make you feel better!"

"I'm _not_! You think I _want _to be beaten by him? Dumb mutt, I'm not trying to do _anything_!" Kyo started out of the room, almost turning towards and seeing Yuki, who watched as Shigure reached for the cat's arm, appeared to think better of it, and grabbed his shoulder instead.

"For Tohru's sake-"

"Shut up about Tohru! Shut up about _everything, _it's none of your business what I'm doing and... you don't understand, anyway! So just stop talking about this!" Kyo snarled, shaking Shigure off and folding his arms.

The dog took a moment to comprehend what Kyo had just said. "Look, you're living in my house, so as your guardian I'm responsible for your health! For both of our sakes... for the next few weeks, don't fight with _Yuki_, don't fight with _Haru_, don't fight with anyone, okay? Just... exercise a little self-preservation!"

Kyo looked down, then gave a curt nod. "...fine, but if that filthy rodent provokes me again, I'm not just gonna sit there and take it!"

They looked as though they were about to turn in his direction, so Yuki quickly headed back up into his room, shutting the door behind him. He was pretty sure if Kyo knew he had listened in on their conversation, he would consider it 'provocation'.

_Well that was... interesting. _Not that he had any idea what most of what they were saying was about. _Shigure's trying to stop Kyo fighting with me...? Why would he think Kyo is _trying _to get me to harm him? That's a bit...odd._

Checking his timetable for the next day, he was surprised to find himself almost disappointed that they didn't have PE.

… _I really need to forget about that stupid cat and concentrate on my own problems... _One such problem being the constant-nightmares-while-sleeping issue. As soon as he turned out the lights he felt a tightening in his chest, his heart rate quickening. _This is pathetic. I'm not scared of the dark. And I certainly don't need a night light like some child._

He heard footsteps and the sound of a door opening and closing as, across the corridor, Kyo entered his own room.

_...goodnight._

_

* * *

_

**... I. Do. Not. Like. How. This. Chapter. Turned. Out. XP I'll stop complaining now, but I apologize for out-of-characterness, slow-plot-fullness, and general retarded-ness. Yes.**

**Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. I'll try to update faster next time :D**

**Thanks again!  
**


	6. Influenza

Thank you to **Lightningstar 0.o, cat2772, invisiblelace, Lazy Gaga, Samsal, Khandalis, and fan girl 666 **for reviewing chapter five. And **especial** thanks to **_Llaelien_, teddibear16, Janie27-27, Haaaaaa and stixnstones** who reviewed chapter five, making that **five chapters in a row **that they have reviewed! Ahhh thank you guys! You make me so happy *sniff sniff*. Umm, yes. Thanks also to everyone who has read, alerted or favorited this story. **=)**

This chapter is dedicated to **invisiblelace**, who suggested that Haru confront Kyo next.**  
**

**DISCLAIMER- I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**CHAPTER SIX**

**

* * *

**"Good heavens! I'm surrounded by the living dead."

Shigure looked down with amusement at the three teenagers sitting at the table before him, half heartedly stirring at bowls of cereal. Yuki barely lifted his head at the dog's comment, the shadows under his eyes stark against his pale skin. He yawned and settled his head back down on his arms.

"Good morning Shigu- ….gu-...-!" Tohru broke off to sneeze, blowing her nose on her napkin. "Um. Good morning." the girl's face was flushed, and she sniffled every few seconds.

"Bless you, my little flower." Shigure seated himself opposite her, ignoring Kyo's glare, and frowned. "You aren't looking too well this morning."

"Just hay fever, I think." Tohru croaked, blowing her nose a second time. "I'm fine."

"Do you have a temperature?" Thinking ruefully about how lately everyone in his house seemed to be suffering health issues, he reached across the table and brushed his hand over her forehead. "You seem to have a fever! I guess you'll be staying home today then."

"Ah! I can't!" Panicked, Tohru sneezed three times in quick succession before shaking her head vigorously. "We have a literacy test today... and the teacher was going to give us notes for the mid year exams..."

"Don't strain yourself, Miss Honda." Yuki murmured sleepily.

Shigure nodded. "He's right, you won't do well in your test if you're feeling like this. Kyo or Yuki can take notes for you. Why don't you head off to bed?"

"Really, I'm fine!" Tohru insisted. "I think I can make it through school..."

"You're always like this when you're sick!" Kyo growled suddenly. "Just take a break for once, okay?"

"Umm... okay." Looking rather flustered, Tohru got unsteadily up from the table and made her way to her room. Shigure called after her, "I'll bring you some aspirin later if you need it! As for you..." he turned his attention to Yuki, "It looks like you need some coffee. Or at least some very strong tea."

* * *

The walk to school was rather silent and awkward without Tohru there to lighten the atmosphere. Yuki, now relatively more awake thanks to Shigure's tea, trailed a few paces behind Kyo, who was striding along relentlessly.

After a while, however, the silence seemed to get to the cat, and he whirled around, glaring as he waited for Yuki to catch up. "Why are you always so damn tired?"

_What sort of question is that? _Yuki blinked, then said slowly, "You know I'm not a morning person. Why are you always so uncouth?"

Kyo scowled, then turned away and continued walking. Yuki smirked to himself as he followed. _Does the stupid cat even know the _meaning _of uncouth?_

"Why are you always so pretentious?" Kyo snapped suddenly. "I can't stand the way you always think you're right!"

"Why are you always such an imbecile?"

"Why are you always such a fraud? Leading those girls on at school to believe you're some sort of _prince_." Kyo spat, making a face at Yuki. "You're just a filthy rodent."

"You're just a stupid cat." They had both stopped walking now, Yuki feeling his ire rising at his cousin's comment. "You know I never asked those girls to follow me around."

"You certainly don't discourage them!" Kyo's fists were clenched as he stared fierce daggers at Yuki. "Face it, you just like having people pampering to your big ego."

"Excuse me? At least I'm not an uncommunicative sociopath like you." Yuki retorted, his own hands starting to form fists as he tensed.

Kyo hissed in annoyance. "Yeah? At least I don't look like a girl."

Yuki's expression darkened. "I don't need that from someone with hair the color of a _tangerine_."

A thunderous look crossed Kyo's face before he flung his school bag down, lunging at Yuki, who neatly dodged, carefully placing his own bag on the ground.

"You wanna fight, damn rat, then let's fight!" Kyo snarled, turning to face Yuki and raising his fists.

"I think _you _are the one who wants to fight here." Yuki said calmly. _What Shigure said last night... obviously Kyo isn't very good at listening to advice. Should I try and discourage him from fighting? Maybe-_

"What, so you _don't _want to fight? Are you too scared?" Kyo leaped at him again, one fist swinging. Yuki blocked the attack and the kick that followed, taking a few steps back.

"Aren't you going to hit me?" Kyo made to punch Yuki again, but the rat grabbed his arm as it came towards him, yanking it forward and pulling him off balance. As the cat hissed in pain, stumbling, Yuki moved behind him, grabbing his shirt and pushing him down onto his knees, still gripping his arm and pulling it up behind his back.

"No, I'm not going to hit you." he said calmly as Kyo swore and tried to pull free. "Do you want me to? Maybe you're just using me."

Kyo faltered, his struggles stilling for a moment. Yuki frowned, past caring whether the cat knew he had been listening in on them or not. _I just want to know what's going on here._

"Where did you..." Kyo craned his head around to glare at Yuki. "Were... you were _listening_? Fuck you, you think you have the right to just barge in on everyone else's business where it doesn't concern you? Go to hell you presumptuous overbearing bastard!"

"If you and Shigure were talking about me, it _does _concern me." Yuki adjusted his grip on Kyo and crouched over him, leaning down closer to the cat. "Why don't you tell me what he meant? What, exactly, are you using me _for_?"

"Shut your trap, like I'd need _you _for anything!" Kyo yanked his arm away from Yuki and pushed him away, scrambling forward. Recovering quickly, the rat tackled him, catching him around the waist and knocking them both forward onto the ground. Both their uniforms were covered in dust as they scrabbled to get the upper hand.

"Shit... we're gonna be late for school!" Kyo hissed as Yuki pushed him onto his back, settling over his legs and holding his arms down. "Get off me!"

"Tell me what Shigure meant." Yuki insisted, determined to get the answers he was looking for. "He seemed to think you were _trying _to get me to hurt you. You two keep sneaking around, and I'm tired of it."

"What the hell! We aren't _sneaking around!_" Kyo thrashed under Yuki, who had to grit his teeth and brace himself to keep from overbalancing. "Shigure's an idiot! And it has _nothing_ to do with you, damn rat, so mind your own damned business!"

"Hmm..." Yuki fixed his cousin with a _this-is-not-over-until-I-get-some-proper-answers_ look. Kyo responded with an extremely pissed off _get-stuffed_ look, before snapping, "Shigure... misunderstood. I'm not _using you _for anything. Why the hell would I _want_ you to hurt me? That's stupid."

Yuki raised his eyebrows before standing up, brushing down his uniform and retrieving his school bag. Beside him, Kyo got to his feet and did the same, marching off towards the school after throwing Yuki a heated glare.

… _that whole fight was pretty pointless. _Yuki thought. _But I think Shigure was wrong. Kyo's far too proud to _want _to get beaten by me. _Still musing over this, he quickened his pace as he walked – they were indeed running late for school.

* * *

_Damn rat! _Kyo clenched his teeth angrily as he sat down at his desk. They hadn't gotten into trouble for being late, probably because they had arrived together – Kyo had a record for being tardy, but Yuki was almost always on time. _Oh, of course, everyone trusts _Prince _Yuki. _He thought sourly.

_I can't believe he had the nerve to listen in on us. I mean what the hell, does he really think he's so special that he has the right to get into everyone's private business? How much did he hear? Does he know about-_

"Yo! Orangey!"

Irritated, Kyo looked around to see Uo looming over him, Hana hovering just behind her. "What?"

"Where's Tohru?" Uo asked, glancing over at the girl's empty desk.

"She's sick. She's at home." Kyo said shortly. Uo blinked, then nodded. "Oh yeah, there's some flu going around the school."

When Kyo didn't reply, the blonde snorted and headed back to her desk. Hana gave him a strange glance, before saying, "Your waves are turbulent."

"What the hell does that mean?" Kyo asked flatly. _Turbulent? Isn't that the stuff on aeroplanes?_

Hana just shook her head slowly and walked away. Kyo frowned. _That was... random. _

The teacher came in at that moment and began writing up notes on the board. Kyo blinked in confusion for a moment, before realization dawned. _Right... we have the mid yearly exams in two weeks. Gah! I completely forgot about them! Well this is brilliant_.

He hurriedly began to copy down the teacher's notes, but his cognition seemed slower than usual. To accompany this, he could feel a headache forming, as well as the beginnings of a blocked nose and sinus.

_Don't tell me. I've caught that flu thing from Tohru. _Swearing to himself, he doggedly continued copying the notes down from the board. Several sudden sneezes from somewhere in the class distracted him, and he looked over with annoyance to find Yuki blowing his nose.

_...pfah._

* * *

Yuki really was not feeling well. He'd struggled through the literacy test, his headache not helping things, and now he stood beside his locker, trying to relax after having to ward off fangirls who kept trying to offer him tissues and strepsils.

Blowing his nose with one hand, he opened his locker with the other and pulled out his jumper, tugging it on with relief. _The worst part of the flu is definitely the chills. Or maybe the headache. It's a close tie between the two..._

Still debating over this in his mind, he nearly walked into Haru, who was turning the corner in the opposite direction to him. The ox blinked placidly. "...hello Yuki."

"Hey," Yuki replied, and cringed at how nasal his voice sounded.

"...you really don't look too good." Haru commented. "Are you ill? Half the main house is sick, including Momiji. Hatori's run off his feet."

"I think there's a flu going around." Yuki said, before breaking off to cough, interspersed with sneezes.

"Hm. Maybe you should go to sick bay." Haru suggested. "If you push yourself you might transform."

"I don't think I'm sick enough to transform. It's just a flu. Most of the school is probably already in sick bay, anyway..." Yuki said, recalling how today's classes seemed smaller than usual.

"No, I think everyone's just bludging." Haru nodded to himself, then continued walking. "See you."

"Bye..." Yuki headed off to his next class, but froze at the doorway. There were only about twelve students in there... and they were all female.

_...sick bay suddenly looks like a really good idea_.

* * *

Kyo was finding sick bay to be rather useful – it was a place where he could skip out on class without getting into trouble. Of course, the only drawback was that you had to actually be _sick_ to use it, but this wasn't a problem right now because he _was _sick. The nurse, a hardheaded, no nonsense woman with an impressive bust and a cube-like build, recognized him from the last time he'd come there and insisted on giving him aspirin.

Now he sat, leaning his chair on its back legs against the wall. Surprisingly, the sick bay was nearly empty – there was one other student curled up in the corner who had made rather disturbing groaning noises for a while, but was now asleep and snoring softly. Presumably, everyone who was sick was at home.

_Which leaves people like me, who didn't realize they were ill until they got to school, _Kyo thought miserably, sneezing into a tissue. _This sucks._

"Sohma." The door opened suddenly and the nurse stuck her head into the room. "You've got company."

Kyo watched in unconcealed distaste as Yuki entered the room, shooting him a glance. The rat looked as sick as Kyo felt, which cheered him up a little – at least he wasn't the only one suffering.

Pulling up a chair, Yuki sat on the opposite side of the room to Kyo and shivered, pulling his jumper closer about himself.

The two boys glared half heartedly at one another before turning to their tissues again. Kyo leaned back in his chair, shutting his eyes against his throbbing headache, which the aspirin had barely helped to ease.

_I really hope I don't transform_...The flu didn't seem serious enough to warrant transformation, but it didn't hurt to be careful. _Maybe I should go home...? _He glanced towards Yuki, who was huddled in his chair with a wad of tissues pressed against his nose. _Stupid rat should probably get out of here as well, in his current state those fangirls will probably fawn over him even _more_ and end up making him transform._

A sudden loud, strangled groan from the boy in the corner made them both jump and turn to look. A pained expression crossed the boy's face before he lurched to his feet, stumbling across the room and rushing into the small bathroom that led off the nurse's office.

"...what's wrong with him?" Yuki rasped.

"Indigestion or something, I think." Kyo replied tersely. "Nurse called for someone to come pick him up." And on that note, "You think we should go home as well? We don't wanna transform here..."

"I guess..." Yuki said slowly, then pulled out his timetable and began checking what subjects they had for the rest of the day.

Kyo snorted. _What's the point of that? Does it really matter what classes we're gonna miss? He's probably just gonna sit in sick bay all day anyway, if he doesn't go home. Freaking teacher's pet._

"Okay." Yuki said, getting up.

_Well that was... one of our first cordial conversations._ Kyo followed, but no sooner had they reached the door than they stopped, hearing a familiar voice coming from behind it.

"I'm here to pick up my cousins..."

"Alright," came the nurse's voice, and the two boys glanced at one another.

Yuki cleared his throat. "Was that-"

At that moment the door opened, and the nurse entered the room, Haru trailing behind her. The nurse raised her eyebrows as she looked over the three boys. "You Sohmas are becoming regulars here in the sickbay, eh?"

"Hm?" Yuki questioned, not quite sure what she meant.

"You." The nurse nodded at Kyo, who blinked. "Been in here twice now. And your younger cousin, the blonde one – always coming to me for bandaids and whatnot when he falls over."

"...uh." Kyo said, not quite sure what to say to that. "Haru, what are you doing here?"

"Taking you guys home, obviously." Haru said flatly. "Come on. I've already called Shigure to let him know we're coming."

… _but we were about to go home anyway_, Kyo brooded, following Haru out and grabbing more tissues as he passed the box. _Mneh._

_

* * *

_"Shall I carry your bag, Yuki?" Haru inquired after ten minutes of walking in silence.

Yuki glanced over at the ox, then shifted his bag on his shoulder. "No thanks... I think I'm fine." Although to be honest, he was starting to feel the aches and pains of flu in his bones, and his school bag just seemed to be getting heavier.

Haru stared at him a moment, then reached out and took the bag anyway. Yuki murmured his thanks before turning to cough into a handkerchief. He had found said hanky deep in the bottom of his pocket, and had promptly discovered that tissues were better – handkerchieves had a repulsive tendency to become damp after continued use.

Haru stopped walking suddenly. "Better wait for Kyo."

Yuki also came to a halt, turning to look at Kyo. The cat had been trailing after them since they left the school, and ended up falling back. Now he was plodding along a few meters behind them, walking hunched over like an old man.

"Hurry up, stupid cat!" Yuki called back to him. "You're holding us up!"

Kyo glanced up with an annoyed expression, then gave a particularly vigorous sneeze.

There was a telltale 'poof!'.

"...Lucky you got out of school in time." Haru commented, glancing around to make sure there was no one around. They were pretty much surrounded by trees anyway, Shigure's house being situated in an area with a lot of foliage.

Kyo, now a small orange cat, scrambled out from under his school bag and pawed at his clothes. "Wonderful."

* * *

Haru walked back to where Kyo was, crouching next to him. "Come on, I'll carry your stuff..." Hefting Kyo's bag onto his back beside his own and Yuki's, he shifted to get the bags balanced. Carrying three wasn't too heavy for the broad-shouldered ox, but the size of the bags made things a little awkward.

Leaning down to collect the cat's clothes, he frowned as he noticed strips of bandages tangled in the sleeves of Kyo's school shirt. Making no comment, but silently resolving to ask his cousin about it later, he picked up the garments and, thus laden, straightened up.

"Can you keep up walking?" he inquired, looking down at Kyo.

The cat hissed in annoyance. "Yes. I'm not an invalid."

"Alright, alright." Haru turned back to Yuki to find him hunkered over slightly. "Yuki? You okay?"

The rat looked up. "I-" he broke off, hands flying up to cover his mouth as some sort of violent cough-sneeze hybrid burst out.

- Poof! -

"...now I feel like some sort of pack animal." Haru muttered as he scooped the rat up and put him in his breast pocket, slinging the discarded clothes over his arm along with Kyo's. "Come on guys, better get you home."

"...it's the rat riding the ox all over again." Kyo commented, looking up at the other two.

Yuki peered over the edge of Haru's pocket at the cat. "Shut up."

Haru shook his head, lengthening his stride and increasing his pace. "You two. Let's try to get back to the house before you change back, okay?"

Kyo raced to keep up, batting at Haru's foot with his paw. "Hey – don't go so fast!"

"Now I'm carrying _everything_." Haru grunted as he rather awkwardly bent and picked up Kyo, dropping some of the clothes as he did so. After much fumbling around, he managed to get everything precariously balanced in his arms, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't scratch me, okay?"

"Yeah yeah." Kyo muttered.

Despite his load, Haru managed to continue on to Shigure's house at a rather impressive pace, reaching the front door a short time later. Forewarned by Haru's phone call from school, the dog was there to open the door before Haru dropped everything.

* * *

"What...are you wearing?" Kyo growled at the sight of the surgical mask strapped over Shigure's nose and mouth.

"Everyone's sick!" Shigure said cheerfully, voice slightly muffled under the mask. "It's contagious!"

"Stop being overly dramatic." Yuki said sternly as Haru made his way into the main room and put everything down with relief. Kyo jumped out of the ox's arms and curled up on one end of the couch, while Yuki was set down on the table.

Shigure pulled the mask off, gasping. "Gahhh! Ah, the joy of fresh air! That thing smells weird!"

"Probably the smell of your own breath." Yuki commented, tugging his jumper towards him from where Haru had laid it on the table, and pulling one sleeve over him to use as a blanket. "How is Miss Honda?"

"She's asleep right now, but I do believe she's recovering! I made her some herbal tea." Shigure sat down in the middle of the couch and patted Kyo, who made a slightly annoyed sound before relaxing. "Speaking of tea... I think I need some. Haru, there's some freshly brewed in the kitchen, could you get it for us?"

The ox nodded and headed for the kitchen. Shigure sighed in contentment and stared up at the ceiling. "Let's see... everyone's ill, so there's no one to cook! I guess that means we'll be having take away tonight, though you three probably don't have much of an appetite..."

"What have you been doing all day, anyway? Just making tea?" Kyo asked.

Shigure shrugged. "I was experimenting with different herbal combinations to find the one which would most strengthen my immune system!"

"That seems a little beyond your intellectual abilities." Yuki said drily.

Shigure shook his head. "It was surprisingly easy. The vitamin-c tea really gave me a boost of energy! The ginseng tea smelled a little odd, but it's meant to be very healthy! As for the leek-infused tea.. you two really must try some!"

Kyo hissed and scratched Shigure when the dog reached to pat him again.

"So ungrateful!" Shigure sniffed, nursing his hand. "You know... I think we should get a pet! Maybe a kind of large, fat, furry animal that just lies around on the couch like some sort of throw pillow."

"...where do you come up with these ideas?" Yuki sighed.

"An essential part of being an author is the ability to devise sudden, inspired ideas at any random moment!" Shigure informed them, before getting to his feet and stretching. "Well! That was a delightful conversation. Isn't it nice to be able to communicate amiably with one another as a family? Here comes Haru with that tea."

The dog sauntered off to his study, grabbing a cup of tea off the tray Haru was carrying as he passed. The ox blinked, then put the tea down on the table and resumed sitting on the couch.

Kyo raised his head a little, eyes narrowing. "What's that smell...?"

"Hm?" Haru took a sip of the tea and made a face. "Tastes like leeks, actually."

Kyo bristled. "Dammit, why are you people always making leeks, anyway? I'm sure you do it deliberately!"

"Why don't you just be glad there's food, stupid cat?" Yuki said, glaring at him. "I'm sick of hearing you complain."

"I didn't ask for your opinion, damn rat!" Kyo seethed, jumping up onto the table and looming over the rat. "Why can't you just mind your own business for once?"

"Why can't _you _stop being such an obnoxious potty mouth?" Yuki replied, taking a few steps back.

Kyo hissed and pounced on the rat, looking an awful lot as though he was preparing to bite him. Before anything could happen, however, Haru reached forward and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, pulling him off Yuki and dropping him on the floor.

"You know I'm practically defenseless in animal form," Yuki chided as Haru picked him up, holding him out of the cat's reach. "If you're going to insist on starting a fight, at least wait until we're both human again."

Kyo snarled, not dignifying him with a reply and instead scratching at Haru's leg. The ox kicked him away lightly, then looked startled as Yuki suddenly transformed back into a human, snatched up his clothes and hurried out of the room.

Haru blinked, then sat back down and continued drinking his tea. Kyo curled up on the floor and was drifting towards sleep, when out of nowhere a foot jabbed him sharply in the side.

"What was that for?" he screeched, jumping up and glaring at Haru.

"Just making sure you were still alive," the ox said placidly.

Kyo muttered darkly, then promptly transformed. Grabbing his clothes, he sneezed a few times, clad his lower half and then hesitated as he came to his shirt, blinking at the bandages and glancing up at Haru.

"Aren't you going to put that on?" Haru asked.

"...no." Kyo said slowly. "I'm going to my room to get changed."

He headed for the door, only to turn and find Haru following him. "What?"

"What?" Haru asked.

"Why are you following me? Stay here," Kyo snapped, marching towards his room. Haru continued to follow him.

"I'll be lonely down there by myself," the cow said mournfully. "Are you going to bed now? You probably should, with that flu."

"That's none of your business. Why don't you go follow Yuki around?" Kyo entered his room and slammed the door, only to have Haru open it a second later.

"I think it would be more interesting to stay here and talk to you," the ox said. "Why are there bandages in your school shirt?"

"I got slightly injured. Obviously." Kyo threw the shirt onto his bed and glared at Haru. "Could you at least leave while I'm getting changed?"

"How'd you get injured?"

"What is this, twenty questions? I was fighting with Yuki, if you must know," Kyo lied, starting to feel a bit panicked. _Geez, why is everyone so suspicious of me? First Yuki, now Haru... damn it all._

"Really? I thought Hatori said you weren't meant to be fighting with anyone." Haru moved his eyebrows up and down questioningly as Kyo spluttered.

"Wh... where'd you hear that?" _How the hell does everyone know about these things? Are Yuki and Shigure going around telling everyone?  
_

"Hatori warned me not to go black and fight with you. He wouldn't tell me exactly _why_ though," Haru said. "So I thought I'd ask you myself. Then I saw the bandages and knew you must be injured... but since you're being so secretive about _what _the injury is, exactly, it must be something you feel guilty about, yes?"

_When, exactly, did Haru become so intuitive? _Kyo thought sourly, folding his arms. "Nice, Sherlock, but you've got it all wrong. I was fighting with Yuki. Hatori told me not to fight with him or you until it healed. That's all."

"Really? In that case you won't mind showing me this _Yuki-induced injury_." Haru took a few paces towards Kyo, ignoring the cat's glower. "Is it so embarrassing? What, did he bite you or something?"

"Piss off, Haru," Kyo snarled, turning and pulling the bandages out of his shirt. "Now get out of my room before I kick your ass."

Haru blinked, then walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Kyo breathed a sigh of relief, then smoothed out one of the crumpled bandages and began the arduous task of tying it with one hand.

He jumped as the door opened again and Haru came back in, striding towards him with his eyes fixed on the cat's arm. "What's this, then?"

"Freaking hell! Why can't you just _stay out of my-_" Kyo broke off as Haru grabbed his arm and inspected it closely, pulling off the half-tied bandage. _Shiiit. At this rate the whole freaking _world's _gonna find out. _

"...you did this?" Haru asked, his face deadpan as usual. Kyo flinched, wondering just how much shock or disgust the ox was hiding_ – _or if he simply didn't care.

"Why can't you people just leave me alone?" the cat yowled finally, yanking his arm from Haru's grip and baring his teeth at him. "It's no one's business except mine, no one _cares_ except me, and I don't need anyone's fake pity or lectures only given out of duty! _It doesn't matter!_"

Haru tilted his head as he slowly processed Kyo's outburst. "...some of that didn't make sense."

"Leave me alone." Kyo hissed, sitting on the bed and pulling his shirt on.

"Those are gonna scar, you know." the ox stabbed his finger towards Kyo's arm. "Do you feel guilty about that? You should! What the hell do you think you're playing at? Are you trying to get people's attention? Maybe make us feel sorry for you?" There was a glint in Haru's eye, a forewarning that Black was about to emerge, if he hadn't already.

"It's not like that!" Kyo spat. Fed up, high strung and overstressed, he was _not _in the mood to deal with Black Haru or his callous accusations. "Just shut up, you don't understand."

"I understand that you're trying to get yourself hurt, if not killed!" Haru grabbed the front of Kyo's shirt and pushed him backwards, raising one fist. "If that's what you want, I'm perfectly willing to help you."

"What happened to Hatori's warning?" Kyo hissed, grabbing the ox's wrist and holding him back.

Haru gave an exceptionally cow-like snort. "Don't worry, pussycat, I won't hit your arms. We wouldn't want those cuts opening again, would we? I don't think Hatori will have a problem if I punch you in the _face_!"

Kyo closed his eyes for a moment, Haru's close proximity and yelling not helping his headache, which was steadily growing into a migraine. Glaring at the ox, he stood up, forcing Haru to take several steps backwards.

"It's none of your concern what I do! What's wrong with you, anyway? What reason is there for you to be angry with me?"

"You're more stupid than I thought!" Haru yanked Kyo's arm up, forcing the cat to look at it. "_That's _why I'm angry! I'm angry because you've been completely disregarding your own life and other people!"

"_Why do you care?" _Kyo screeched, pent up emotions ready to explode. "You have no idea what it's like! I'm just doing what I'm meant to be doing, making myself even _more _miserable and pathetic so you lot can look at me, be glad you're better off than I am and continue with your _happy little lives_! Go on then! _Laugh at me! _Laugh at the stupid cat who can't take the pressure of living! _Go on_!"

There was a moment of quiet, broken only by heavy breathing from both boys. Kyo glared up at Haru, seething, aware that he sounded liked a raving lunatic but not particularly caring. Haru still had an enraged scowl on his face, his grip on Kyo tightening.

Kyo sniffed suddenly, then sneezed, right in Haru's face. The ox's eyes narrowed as he snapped back to life, throwing a punch at Kyo.

The cat flung his arm up to block the blow. Both boys started as a spray of blood spattered over them, more of it dribbling down Kyo's arm and onto Haru's hand.

The adrenaline seemed to drain from the ox, and he lowered his fist, eyes softening as he reverted back to White. He blinked apologetically as Kyo sat down on the edge of the bed and licked a line of blood from one of the cuts.

"...I'll help you." Haru picked up the bandages and sat next to his cousin, looking for a tissue that hadn't been used. There was a roll of paper towels nearby, which he used to mop up the blood.

_At this rate, _Kyo thought dismally, _I may just collapse from blood loss. Maybe I should eat spinach, didn't we learn in science that leafy greens are good for the blood? _He ripped off another paper towel and blew his nose with it.

"Kyo?" Haru said cautiously as he helped with the bandage.

"Yeah?"

"...sorry."

The ox looked so forlorn that Kyo had to bite back a smirk. "It's fine."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Haru fidgeted as he finished tying the bandages, settling back on the bed. "Who else knows?"

"Shigure. Hatori." _And I sincerely hope that no one else finds out. There's been enough drama over this already._

"I won't tell anyone. If you don't want me to."

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence. Kyo got up and began changing out of his school clothes. Haru stared off into space for a while, then cleared his throat as Kyo finished and came back to sit on the bed.

"...can I ask what made you do it?" the ox said slowly, turning to look at Kyo.

"...nothing, really." _I never really thought about what _made _me do it_. Realizing that was an unsatisfactory answer, he shrugged, glancing over at Haru before looking back at his hands. "I mean... just the usual. Being the cat. Akito." he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I see..." Haru said slowly, although his tone of voice implied that he didn't, actually, 'see'. "Next time... talk to someone."

"Great idea. Who?" Kyo asked flatly.

Haru tutted. "Kyo, you're living in a house with three people who are perfectly willing to give you support when you need it. Talk about dense."

Kyo scowled at him, but took a moment to think about it. _Tohru... I know she's always so kind and supportive, but... I always feel like I have to hold back from telling her what's wrong... like I have to shield her from the horror of my life. Plus she worries so much, I hate seeing her get bent out of shape all the time._

_As for Shigure... well, he's been pretty decent for the last few days, but he reports everything to Akito. No going to him._

"Well?" Haru persisted.

Kyo shook his head. "You're not implying that I can go to that damn rat, are you?" When the ox just continued staring at him, his scowl deepened. "You're nuts. We _hate _each other, or haven't you noticed? I think _you're _the dense one here."

"You'd be surprised," Haru said, nonplussed. "Yuki's not an unkind person, Kyo."

"Maybe not to you." Kyo folded his arms. "I think I'd rather die than go to him for help-" he broke off with a cough, reaching for the paper towels again.

Haru got to his feet, pulling back the bedcovers. "Okay, get some sleep. You guys should probably stay home from school tomorrow as well."

"Mhm." Kyo climbed into the bed and sighed. "...Haru?"

"Yeah?" Haru turned from the doorway to fix the cat with a questioning look. Kyo looked away for a moment, then muttered a barely audible, "...thanks."

Haru's mouth twitched slightly. "Yeah. Take care of yourself."

_...Haru really isn't that bad, _Kyo thought, as he pulled the blankets up around him. _But really... go to _Yuki _for help? Like that'd ever happen._

After tossing and turning for a while, he sank into a feverish sleep.

* * *

"_You're more stupid than I thought! That's why I'm angry! I'm angry because you've been completely disregarding your own life and other people!"_

"_Why do you care? You have no idea what it's like! I'm just doing what I'm meant to be doing, making myself even more miserable and pathetic so you lot can look at me, be glad you're better off than I am and continue with your happy little lives! Go on then! Laugh at me! Laugh at the stupid cat who can't take the pressure of living! Go on!"_

Yuki sank back on his pillows, the worlds still ringing in his head. Loud shouting from Kyo's room had roused him from the flu-generated, half-asleep daze he'd slipped into, and now he couldn't get back to sleep.

_...I hate being sick. And... I hate having the added stress of worrying about that stupid cat. _

Yuki frowned as he admitted the thought to himself. Yes, he was worried. All day he'd been letting the cat provoke him into fights, picking arguments in the hope that he'd find something to kindle his hatred of his cousin.

It wasn't working.

There came a soft knock at the door. Swallowing a few times, his throat sore from coughing, he managed a hoarse, "Come in..."

Haru slid the door open and entered the room, crossing to the bed and looking down at him. "You alright? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine," he replied, wondering briefly if he should ask what all the shouting had been about. "Umm."

"Kyo and Tohru are sleeping now. Shigure's downstairs if you need anything," Haru said. "I'm gonna go back to the main house now."

"Don't get lost."

The ox smiled slightly. "I won't..." He made to stand, then a frown flickered across his face as he looked down at Yuki. "You look tired."

"I haven't been sleeping that well," Yuki admitted.

"Hm. Well, get well soon." With a final wave, Haru left. Yuki sighed – for once the house was quiet, but it didn't seem very peaceful. Background noises suddenly seemed much louder – a few birds outside the window, his alarm clock ticking on the bedside table, the kettle boiling downstairs.

"Leek tea coming your way!" Shigure called cheerfully from the hallway outside. Yuki blinked as he heard the dog knock on Kyo's door and enter.

"Kyooo! I've brought you some tea!"

"Get lost! That isn't funny!"

"You don't want it?"

"Just go away!" There came a loud hiss and a crash, along with a yelp of pain.

"Ow! Was that your alarm clock? Shameful! Didn't you know that clocks can be _dangerous_ when flying through the air at a high speed?"

"Get. Out."

"Fine, fine..." a few moments later, Shigure opened Yuki's door, rubbing his nose with one hand and balancing a tray of tea with the other. "Leek tea!"

"Thanks..." Yuki sat up, propping himself up on his pillow, and blew on the tea to cool it. Shigure beamed at him before marching out towards Tohru's room.

_Well... Kyo still sounds like he's alive and kicking. _Yuki drained the rest of the tea before settling into a restless sleep, still shivering despite the warm bedcovers.

* * *

_Alone in the cold and the dark. Wearing his mask, the only way to stop the world from noticing how many pieces he has broken into. Watching through the narrow, barred window as the others walk by, not seeing him. He is excluded, his own brother turning away from him. They say he's the special one, so why doesn't he feel special?_

_And then two thin arms wrap around him, pulling him close, dark hair brushes against his face as poisonous words are whispered in his ear. He can feel his mask shattering, leaving him defenseless before God._

_Akito._

_

* * *

_

**Self confidence: I'm reasonably pleased with how this turned out. Seemed a little OOC though. Anyway, I've never gotten past chapter six in my stories **(I've always ended up giving up or permanently putting off writing chapter seven) **but I'll definitely be continuing this one. Yay! Things will probably pick up next chapter in terms of their relationship with one another.**

On a sort-of-semi-related note: **There is actually such a thing as leek tea. I've never had it though. And... as an experiment, I tried doing a bandage around my arm with one hand, and it is not easy. At all. Heheheh... um, yes.  
**

**Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. I'll will update soon, and try to make it fast-ish, but it's back to school next week... =(  
**

**Thanks again!**


	7. Awakenings

Many thanks to **teddibear16, Khandalis, invisiblelace, fan girl 666, Lazy Gaga, Samsal, LightningStar 0.o, Haaaaaa, Janie27-27, **_**llaelien**_**, Kaslo, Zoeiy3, **_**Furuba Onigiri**_** and XMistressDevilx **for reviewing chapter six. Thank you also to everyone who has read, or added Tactics to their favorites and alerts! You make me so happy! ^^

Sorry for the wait for this chapter, which took me longer than expected. I intended to finish earlier this week, but on Tuesday I was struck with a stomach bug that completely knocked me out. That coupled with writer's block... thank you for your patience, and I'm sorry if this is of disappointing standard.

**DISCLAIMER- I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**

* * *

**Milk tasted different at three o'clock in the morning. It seemed... colder and more bland, although that might have been the effect of Kyo's flu. The illness, combined with a blocked nose, made food seem less tasty.

Tipping the carton back and draining the last of the milk from it, he wiped his mouth and set the empty carton down on the edge of the sink. _… back to bed then, I guess...? _He shivered, although his skin was burning with fever, it was freezing in the kitchen.

_We. Need. A heater. _Clenching his jaw to stop his teeth from chattering, he made his way to the door, picking his way carefully in the dark, still not bothered to turn on any of the lights. Halfway there, he paused and rubbed irritably at the bandages on his left arm – it was painfully itchy, but he was wary of scratching too hard for fear of the wounds opening again. _At the rate they keep bleeding, they're never gonna heal... annoying._

He froze at the sound of footsteps padding down the stairs, then cringed as the light flicked on. His eyes barely slitted open, he peered at Yuki, who squinted back at him, looking rather startled.

"Turn the freaking light off." Kyo pushed past his cousin and snapped the light back off, his eyes relaxing in relief as they were plunged into darkness again. "What are you trying to do, blind us?"

Yuki let out an annoyed breath. Kyo's eyes narrowed as he felt a flash of deja vu. _Why is it that I always encounter the damn rat in the middle of the night? Are we both becoming nocturnal or something?_

"What are you doing down here?" Yuki asked, and Kyo gave a little jump – in the dark, he hadn't realized the rat was standing so close to him.

"I was getting a drink," he replied, edging away slightly. "What are you doing?"

"Same." There was a slight thump as Yuki inched forward and bumped into something. "Can you turn the light on? I can't see a thing down here."

"No. It's too bright." Kyo felt his way over to the refrigerator and pulled it open, the small light at the back of the fridge flickering on and providing enough illumination for them to see, but not so bright that their eyes had to adjust. "There."

The cat watched as Yuki set about pouring himself some water, strangely unwilling to go back to bed just yet. Turning away, he made his way to the couch in the dim light and sat down, drawing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them in some attempt to preserve warmth.

A few moments later, there was a clink as Yuki put his glass down in the sink and closed the fridge, making everything fade into darkness again.

Kyo closed his eyes, expecting Yuki to head back upstairs, but to his surprise there was a creak and the couch shifted under him as Yuki sat down on the other end.

Too tired and drained from the illness to growl or snap at the rat, he settled for ignoring him, resting his head on the back of the couch and sitting in silence.

… _this is... random. _Oddly enough, he felt a sense of almost... comradeship with the rat. _Yep. Nothing like continuously bumping into one another in the middle of the night to make you feel closer to someone. ...note sarcasm._

_

* * *

_Yuki was not sure what he was doing. What he did know was that he wasn't in any particular rush to go back to sleep... and even if Kyo insisted on sitting in the dark down here, it was better than sitting in the dark up there, alone. _Keh... since when have I preferred to be with the stupid cat than to be by myself? These incessant nightmares must really be getting to me..._

He didn't like not knowing exactly what he was feeling, but he was starting to find it hard to hate his cousin like he used to. It should have been easy – the cat called him names, insulted him, made comments about his looks, and was being a jerk about the whole dancing thing, but in a way it was kind of... _refreshing? To have someone who isn't afraid of insulting the 'Prince', who doesn't hold him in regard or tip toe around hurting his feelings? _Yuki shook his head, more confused than ever.

Maybe it was Tohru's friend-of-the-world influence, but right now, as they sat on the couch together at three in the morning... it didn't seem so impossible to be not-enemies. Acquaintances. Possibly even... _friends? _Of course, there were a few problems.

_Even if I... for some reason, don't feel as hostile towards him as I used to... _he_ still hates _me_. _Yuki sighed slightly as he glanced in Kyo's direction, not that that did much since it was pitch black and he couldn't see him anyway. _And I haven't given him any reason not to. Sure I'm... concerned about him, but I've kept that to myself. What's more... we're _supposed _to hate one another. I mean, we're the rat and the cat!_

It was, indeed, a right mess. _So what, exactly, am I meant to do about this? Just... act nicer to him? Pft. He probably wouldn't even notice, and he's still set on beating me... plus, I'd probably be unable to stop myself snapping at him when he inevitably provokes me._

It was so silent that for a moment Yuki thought Kyo had gone to sleep, but a stifled sneeze from the cat dismissed that notion. Feeling that he really ought to say something, the rat made to speak, only to have Kyo start to talk at the same moment.

"Did you-"

"I- eh?" Taking the opportunity to be considerate, Yuki shut his mouth and waited for his cousin to speak first.

"Did you give Tohru the literacy notes?" Kyo asked, slightly awkwardly.

Yuki shook his head, then realized the cat couldn't see him in the dark. "No," he replied, "Not yet." _I really need to start studying for those exams... _"Did you?"

"No. You give them to her," Kyo said. "She only needs one copy."

Yuki nodded, realized he'd made the same mistake again, and mentally slapped himself. "Alright." thinking back to what he'd been about to tell Kyo, he said, "I'm going to watch TV."

"At three am? Suit yourself." Kyo sounded bored... well, sitting quietly in the dark wasn't exactly a lot of fun. Yuki got up and switched on the television, turning the volume down so that the noise wouldn't wake Shigure and Tohru. Grabbing the remote, he flicked from channel to channel, looking for something neutral.

There wasn't much on at this time of morning. Reruns of sitcoms and documentaries seemed to be prevalent. Finally finding something that looked semi-interesting, a factual program about the glacial period, he settled back to watch.

… _scratch that. This isn't interesting at all, _Yuki thought, as he watched small animals get frozen and become mummified. He glanced over at Kyo, the dim glow of the television providing just enough light to see by. His cousin looked half-asleep, idly scratching at his arm with one hand and resting his chin on the other.

_...I'm watching TV. In the middle of the night. With Kyo. _Yuki blinked as the bizarreness of the situation sank in.

… _what... am I coming to?_

_

* * *

_"Now isn't this lovely! Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun sleeping on the couch togetherrr!"

The loud exclamation stirred Kyo from sleep, and when he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Shigure's face looming into his.

Not the best sight to wake up to.

Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he blearily tried to remember why he was on the couch, with Yuki of all people. _...That's right. I didn't feel like going back upstairs last night... then he got the idea he wanted to watch TV... we must have dozed off._

Shaking his head, he turned to the rat, to find him half-draped over the armrest of the couch and sleeping soundly. _Gah. What was I thinking? I was being almost... _nice_ to the damn rat. And he was being pretty agreeable as well._

… _how retarded._

"What were you doing down here?" Shigure chirped, breaking Kyo out of his reverie. "And you two left the TV on all night as well! My electricity bill will be through the roof!" Mournfully, the dog leaned forward and switched off the television.

"Ehh... how's Tohru?" Kyo asked, ignoring Shigure's question. He got off the couch and stretched, wincing as something in his back made an ominous creaking sound. _Sleeping in such awkward positions is _not _good for the joints..._

"She's good! At least, I think she is. That is, she's still alive, but she's sleeping." Shigure pranced into the kitchen, leaving Kyo to trail after him.

The cat opened the fridge and took out a new milk carton, struggling to open it. _What the hell... why are both sides labelled 'open other side'?"_

"I think you lot should stay home from school today, just to be on the safe side," Shigure said, heading for the stove and stirring a pot that was simmering on top of it. "It's too late for you to go anyway, you guys have been sleeping all morning! It's almost lunchtime!"

"Hm?" Kyo finally tore the milk carton open, spilling some of it. "Damn."

"Are you making a mess over there?" Shigure turned to look at him and tutted. "You seem quite lively this morning. But not very talkative. How very odd."

"Whatever..." grabbing a tea towel to mop up the spillage, he chugged some of the milk and wandered up to Shigure, peering over the dog's shoulder to look into the pot. "What are you doing?"

"Making soup!" Shigure proudly brandished the ladle he was using to stir, almost poking Kyo's eye out.

"Watch it!" the cat swatted him away and glared suspiciously at the pot's contents. The soup appeared innocent enough, but it was the translucent green vegetables floating in it that concerned him... "Are those leeks?"

"Nope! It's boiled cabbage!" Shigure turned the stove off and continued to stir the bubbling liquid. "Hmm de dum daaa... soup for luuunch..."

"...I didn't know you could cook," Kyo said skeptically, taking another sip of his milk.

"I can't! I just followed the recipe word for word! Looks good, doesn't it?" Shigure grabbed an oven mitt and carefully lifted the pot off the stove, nudging Kyo out of the way as he carried it out to the main room. "Excuse me... coming through... go wake the others, will you?"

"Why do _I_ have to do it?" Kyo slammed the milk down on the table and followed him out.

"Well... I'm busy... and you're the only other person awake!" Shigure put down the soup and began setting the table. "Off you go! Shoo! Shoo!"

"Fine..." Kyo marched over to the sofa and scowled down at Yuki, half hoping that the intensity of his glare would be enough to rouse the rat. Unfortunately, this did not work, so he settled for shaking his cousin by the shoulder.

"Hey! Wake up already!"

Yuki murmured something and shifted, burying his face in the crook of his elbow. Muttering to himself, Kyo grabbed the rat's shirt and attempted to pull him into a sitting position.

"Hey? Hello? Wake up- hey!" he broke off as Yuki's hand shot out and seized his collar, yanking him down towards him. The rat's eyes slitted open slightly, giving Kyo the full-force, half-asleep glower of doom.

_He never did like being woken up... _"Gah! Damn rat! Let go, you're choking me!" Kyo grasped Yuki's wrist and attempted to pry the rat off him, to no avail. _What does he think he's doing? It's bad enough that he drapes himself over me and uses me as a pillow when he's half-asleep in the morning! Now he's trying to _strangle_ me! I mean what the hell!_

"Good morning Yuki!" Shigure leaned over the back of the couch and smiled down at the rat. "Lunch is almost ready!"

"Sh-shigure!" Kyo coughed, as Yuki made no move to loosen his grip. "Make him let go of me!"

"Hm?" Shigure straightened up, apparently unconcerned that Kyo was being strangled before his eyes. "Come to the table when you're ready. And go wake up Tohru. Now where did I put that newspaper..."

Yuki closed his eyes and appeared to go back to sleep, still clutching Kyo's collar. The cat glared, then swung a fist at the rat's head.

Yuki chose that moment to wake up, releasing Kyo and stepping around the cat. Kyo hissed as his punch hit the back of the couch instead, just behind where Yuki's head had been. Glaring at the rat, who was swaying tiredly on his feet, he marched upstairs to go get Tohru.

* * *

"So!" Shigure said cheerfully. "How is everyone this morning? You all still look a little under the weather."

"I'm feeling quite recovered, thank you." Tohru took a sip of the soup and smiled. "This is very nice!"

"Isn't it?" Shigure slurped his own soup appreciatively and turned to Kyo and Yuki. "How are you two then? Better?"

"Fine." Kyo said shortly, and Yuki nodded. The rat wearily dipped his spoon into his bowl. To Shigure's credit, the soup wasn't bad, but he didn't feel like eating. _What's wrong with me? I should be feeling great... I just slept for half the day, and not one nightmare. Maybe it was the effect of the sound of the television on my subconscious while I was sleeping? Hm..._

He found his eyes straying to Kyo, sitting on the other side of the table. _He wasn't being so bad last night... but that was probably a one-off. I mean, he was sick and tired, of course he wasn't going to pick a fight..._

He blinked as Kyo's eyes flicked up to his, before the cat looked away quickly. _...odd. What happened to all those glaring contests he used to start?_

"If we're all finished, I'm off to go get some work done." Shigure stood up from the table, flapping his hands at Tohru when she began to collect the bowls. "Just leave those for now. Have a rest today. We'll clean the dishes later."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble-"

"Seriously. Just... have a rest," Kyo sighed, getting up and slouching out of the room. Yuki shot him a curious glance, but turned to Tohru.

"Miss Honda, would you like me to get you those notes now?"

"Oh! Um, yes please." Tohru glanced at the dishes, then at Shigure, before following Yuki up to his room.

The rat wrinkled his nose as he entered his bedroom. The sheets were still flung back from when he'd gotten out of bed last night. "Sorry. It's a little messy." He hurriedly straightened the duvet and looked around for his school bag, locating it under his desk.

"Sohma-kun... are you sure everything is alright?" Tohru asked uncertainly, hovering in the doorway as he rummaged through his bag. "Lately you've seemed... I'm not quite sure how to describe it. Distracted? A bit... downcast. I'm not sure."

"Uh?" Yuki raised his head to look at her, bumping his cranium on the underside of the desk. "Ow!"

"Ah! Sohma-kun! Are you alright?" Tohru rushed to his side, kneeling beside him, her hands fluttering around hesitantly. "Does it hurt? You're not bleeding..."

"I'm fine, Miss Honda." _Since when have I been so ungraceful...? _Yuki crawled out from under the desk, rubbing his head. He handed her his literacy book, now a little crumpled. "Here you go."

"Thank you..." Tohru accepted it, still staring at him worriedly. "Are you sure you're okay? I can go get you some ice..."

"I'm fine, it's just a bruise." Yuki kept his voice level, disguising the slight irritation he felt. _Why is she always so _worried_ about everything? I'm not made of glass! _

He immediately regretted the thought, disgusted with himself. _What... what is _wrong_ with me? Tohru's such a selfless person... I have no right to think such unkind things about her. I really must be losing my mind..._

"Sohma-kun?" Tohru asked hesitantly. "Do you... want to talk about anything?"

Feeling a little guilty, as though he needed to make it up to Tohru, he nodded. _It can't hurt to tell her... and she _is _a good listener. _"It's not much, really, just... I'm a bit confused."

"How so?" Tohru asked, eyes widening.

"It's Kyo." It felt awkward to speak at first, and he wasn't quite sure how to put his thoughts into words. "I've been finding myself... not quite as averse to him as I used to be."

"You mean you two are starting to get along?" A smile split Tohru's face. "That's wonderful!"

"I wouldn't call it 'getting along'..." Yuki said cautiously. "You see, I'm not really sure what..." he broke off with a slight frown. "It's hard to explain. And I'm almost certain he still hates me." _Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to try to tell her... now I've just gotten myself even more confused._

"Hm..." Tohru's lips pressed together for a moment as she thought, then she smiled once more. "Still! I'm glad you're not feeling so much animosity towards him, and if you make an effort, it could be just another step towards the two of you becoming friends! I think that would be great for both of you!"

"Yeah..." _She... really does not get it_. "Thank you."

"No problem... are you sure that's all that's bothering you?" her face twisted into a worried expression again.

"Yes." Yuki stood up, Tohru following him out the door. After a moment of slightly strained silence, the brunette murmured a goodbye and headed back to her own room.

Yuki sighed and glanced up towards the roof.

* * *

Kyo glanced with distaste at the other side of the roof, the spot where he had discovered the loose tile and first begun cutting himself. He found that he could no longer sit there – it made him feel uncomfortable, his arms got a tingling sensation and his stomach churned. _And that was my favorite spot, too._

Closing his eyes, he laid back against the roof, shifting to get comfortable as something dug into his back. The sun was beating down on him – later the tiles would get too hot to tolerate, but for now it was pleasantly warm.

The warmth vanished suddenly, his eyelids darkening as a shadow fell onto him. Opening his eyes irritably, he frowned to see Yuki standing over him.

"What do you want?" he asked grumpily. _What's up with him? He _never _comes up to the roof..._

To his intense discomfort, the rat sat down next to him. Shuffling over a bit, Kyo continued glaring. "Hello?_ What do you want_?"

"We have PE today," Yuki said, not snapping back like he usually did. Confused, Kyo found himself listening to what the rat was saying.

"We're already behind, so we should probably get as much practice as possible," Yuki continued. "We have the advantage of living together – we can practice at home as well as at school."

"You want to practice the dancing," Kyo said flatly. _What the hell? _"Why would I want to dance with you when I don't have to? It's bad enough having to do it at school every time we have PE! Piss off. You're blocking my sun."

He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but it almost seemed as though a flicker of hurt passed across the rat's face. _Gah. I'm hallucinating. Prince Yuki, showing me some emotion other than anger? Yeah, when pigs fly._

"If you say so, but you're jeopardizing the assignment." Yuki stood and brushed down his pants.

_What? He's just gonna give up? That's not like him. _Now extremely addled, Kyo sat up, blinking. "What?"

Yuki glanced down at him, then repeated himself slowly, as though talking to a small or stupid child. "If. You. Say. So. But, you're jeopardizing. The. Assignment."

"Shut up! I heard that already!" Kyo felt his face flushing, clenching his fists. _Damn rat always getting on my nerves... _

"Are you dancing or not?" Yuki folded his arms. Perhaps it was the angle Kyo was looking at him from, the cat still lying down while the rat was standing, silhouetted against the sun. Either way, something about Yuki's demeanor was... haughty. Daring. Almost as though he was challenging the cat.

It pissed Kyo off.

"Fine." Fingers twitching, he stood up. "Not up here though. On the porch, or out the back."

"Fine." Yuki made for the ladder, while Kyo headed to the edge of the roof and jumped off, landing neatly on his feet.

He fumed as he waited for Yuki to come down. _What's _up _with him? He's acting all weird and... ugh. Is he screwing with my head or something? Annoying._

_

* * *

_Yuki wasn't sure why he had gotten the sudden urge to go up to the roof, or why he unexpectedly felt the need to practice the dancing. It was true that they were missing out on a PE lesson, and thanks to Kyo's non-existent dancing skills they needed all the practice they could get. But still... _Normally at school I hate having to dance with the stupid cat. I never imagined I would miss it._

Completely befuddled with his emotions (his mind seemed to have a mind of its own... which really didn't make sense and just confused him even more), he headed out to the back of the house, where Kyo was waiting impatiently.

"Come on then," the cat snapped, holding out his hand. _For someone who was reluctant to do this, he is strangely impatient to begin..._

"We should practice the cha-cha," Yuki suggested. "We weren't very... competent with that last time."

"Yeah, whatever." Kyo gingerly took hold of Yuki's hands. "Which one was the cha-cha again?"

_...why did I want to do this again? _Yuki sighed as he reminded the cat which dance they were doing, recalling the instructions. "Alright, just... do what I say and try not to step on my feet."

Kyo bit his lip, and Yuki wondered if his cousin was secretly plotting to tread on him and give him bruised toes. "Ready?"

"Uh huh," Kyo said brusquely. "Geez, get on with it already."

"Okay then." Yuki took a breath and barked out, "Forward, backward, cha-cha-cha-" he broke off as Kyo snorted with laughter. "_What_?"

"...you should hear yourself..." Kyo wrenched his hand away from Yuki's and covered his mouth, snickering. "'_Cha-cha-cha_'... you sound ridiculous!" He continued to snigger, eventually trailing off with a cough.

"Don't choke on your own spittle," Yuki said drily, unimpressed. _Why... I don't understand myself. It is clear that this guy takes pleasure in humiliating me... yet I find myself attracted to him._

He took a moment to process his own thoughts.

_Attracted to him? Wait, where did that come from? _Furiously backtracking, he furrowed his brow, astounded at the random thoughts that popped into his head without warning. _I have no idea what I'm doing! Or thinking! Oh for... attracted in a 'maybe-we-should-try-get-along-and-not-be-enemies' way. _

"If you've quite recovered," Yuki said coldly, "Let's continue."

Kyo nodded, apparently still biting back laughter.

"Okay then. Forward, backward, cha-cha-cha..." he glowered at Kyo, who shot back a look of perfect innocence. "Left, right, cha-cha-cha, forward, across, cha-cha-cha... you're not going fast enough."

"I think _you're _going _too fast,_" Kyo grunted as he stumbled to keep up. "You're all out of time with the music."

"What music? There is no music," Yuki replied. _Is he delusional or something...? _"And I'm going at the right speed. Just... try to keep up. And don't drag your feet."

"Stop ordering me around!"

"I'm _correcting_ you. There's a difference. If you don't want me to correct you, then do it _right_."

Kyo muttered to himself, but quickened his pace. Yuki nodded approval. "Alright. Step in, step out, cha-cha-cha, now we swap places, and spin."

* * *

_Actually, this isn't so bad. _Although Kyo was still a bit irritated at Yuki's imperious instructions, now that he was dancing _properly _it was almost... fun. The cha-cha was somewhat easier than the other dance, and once he had memorized the steps it was quite satisfying to be able to do it fast.

They had gotten past Yuki having to repeat the directions, and now the rat just counted softly under his breath to keep them in time.

After dancing it through three times in succession, with few mistakes, Kyo pulled his hands away and wiped them on his trousers, slightly out of breath from all the cha-cha-cha-ing. "I think we're improving."

Yuki nodded, also pausing to catch his breath. For a moment, Kyo felt a twinge of worry that the they had been going too fast and the rat was about to have an asthma attack, but quickly dismissed the thought. _It's just _dancing_. Geez. And since when did I care whether or not the damn rat was okay? He can choke and die for all I care._

Then he felt guilty, because cursing someone to die was pretty low, even if it was just the damn rat.

"One more time?" Yuki suggested, sounding pleased with their progress.

Kyo shrugged. "Fine."

They took each other's hands, and Kyo blinked as he realized that, after holding hands for half an hour, they were more at ease with the contact, no longer charily clutching each other's fingers, instead actually _holding _hands properly.

Yuki nodded at Kyo to begin, and the cat followed the now routine steps. It went smoothly, their best attempt so far. _All that practice really did pay off._

When finally they completed the last cha-cha-cha and came to a still, applause from the back porch had them looking up to see Tohru and Shigure watching.

"That was lovely, boys!" Shigure gasped dramatically, brushing a crocodile tear from his eye. "I never imagined I'd see you doing such beautiful dancing together!"

"You're going to do great in the assignment!" Tohru praised.

Flushing slightly, Kyo quickly let go of Yuki's hand. "Yeah... whatever." _Shit. They saw us. The last thing I need is Shigure telling the whole family I was dancing with _Yuki. _…_

"Do you have to practice the waltz as well?" Shigure inquired as they trooped back inside. "I can't wait to see Yuki-kun holding Kyo-kun close, slowly dancing, gazing into one another's eyes..."

"That's sick," Kyo spat, glaring at the dog and tromping towards the stairs. "Why the hell would you say something like that? It's not even funny, just retarded." He glanced back at the others as he mounted the steps and was astounded to see Yuki give him a smile.

Not a smirk, a smile.

_. . . what . . . _

_

* * *

That... went a lot better than expected,_ Yuki thought as he sat on the couch, watching Kyo retreat upstairs. _But I wish Shigure wouldn't make comments like that... _Although, when he stopped to think about it... _Kyo has interesting eyes... red. _He never seemed to get a good look at them – when they were dancing, the cat insisted on keeping his head down, and at all other times he was either glaring or looking away.

Still musing over this, he jolted as the phone rang suddenly. Glancing around and realizing that he was the closest one to it, he got up to answer it. "Hello? Yuki Sohma speaking."

"Hey Yuki," Haru's voice came. "What's up?"

"Uh... not much," Yuki replied, slightly puzzled. "Did you want something?"

"Maybe I just wanted to speak to you," Haru said. "After all... people normally speak to their friends and cousins to find out how they are when they're sick."

Yuki sighed. "I'm fine. Getting better. The others are recovering too."

"That's good," Haru said. "Tohru's friends said to tell you that they collected notes for you."

"Okay. Thanks."

"You're not talking much," the ox commented. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah..." _I just can't think of anything to say. _"How's everyone over there?"

"Momiji's still sick. Everyone else is recovering, but Hatori's all tired and grumpy," Haru answered. "I might come over tomorrow... no school, weekend, plus it's pretty boring here with everyone sick in bed."

"Okay... you'll probably find it quite boring here as well, though... we have exams in two weeks so I'm pretty sure we'll all be studying this weekend," Yuki said.

"I'll amuse myself," Haru replied vaguely. "Well, bye... see you tomorrow. Actually, wait, can I speak to Kyo?"

"Uh, sure. One moment." Yuki put the phone down, hesitating a moment before heading upstairs. _Haru's never really shown an interest in talking to Kyo before... wonder what he wants to tell him..._

Knocking on Kyo's door, he called out, "Hey. Haru's on the phone for you."

There was a grunt of acknowledgement from inside, then the cat opened the door, glancing at Yuki before heading downstairs.

Yuki blinked as he looked briefly through Kyo's open door. His cousin's books were laid out on the bed, papers scattered around the room. _So he _is _studying then... _

_

* * *

_Kyo huffed as he put the phone down. It was nice of Haru to call and ask how he was doing, he had to admit, but it was getting a bit wearing to have people constantly worrying over him. It made him feel as though they were all waiting in trepidation for him to turn suicidal or something. _Can't they realize it was just a stupid mistake and I'm not gonna do it again?_

He had noticed Shigure shooting him suspicious glances whenever he was alone in his room or on the roof for too long, all the razors had mysteriously vanished from the bathroom, and the dog seemed to be keeping a close eye on the supply of paper towels. _Gah. He's overreacting. _Although, when he thought about it, all of this must have been quite a big shock to the dog.

Heading back up to his room, he frowned at the messy state his books and study notes were in. _...It's too stuffy in here... _Gathering up his materials, he decided to go downstairs to study, where it was cooler and there was more light.

Trekking into the main room, he was displeased and slightly put off to find Yuki already sitting at the table, surrounded by books, but sat down anyway. _What's with this guy? It's like he's deliberately hanging around me or something, just to annoy me. Well... I shall ignore him. _

Thus determined, he pulled out his maths book and grabbed a pen, chewing on the end of it as he read.

_The limits of accuracy of a measuring device are the lower and upper limits between which a measurement can lie... what the hell does that mean? _Reading on, he discovered, _the limits of accuracy of a measuring instrument are: +/- 0.5 of the smallest unit shown on the instrument's scale._

… _I have no idea what that means. _He stared at the words for a few minutes, trying to wrap his mind around what they meant, but it was all gibberish to him. Shrugging, he decided just to write it out a few times and memorize it, so that he'd at least have learned by rote the definition, even if he didn't understand it.

Beside him, Yuki turned a page, his elbow bumping against Kyo. The cat scowled at the contact and continued writing so furiously that the nib of his pen broke. Swearing under his breath, he snatched up a pencil instead and repeatedly wrote over the notes until he had committed them to memory.

_Right. So. What's next? _He resumed chewing the end of the pencil as he read on. _The error, or the difference between the measured and the true value, may be a result of- _he broke off as he choked on a piece of eraser, which had broken off the pencil as a result of his incessant gnawing.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yuki glance over at him as he hacked and coughed. The next thing he knew, someone was thumping him on the back, and a damp, half-chewed piece of eraser flew out of his mouth and skidded across the table.

"... that's disgusting," Yuki said flatly as Kyo tried to regain his breath.

"Shut up, damn rat." Kyo glared at the pencil, then at his cousin, confused. _Why would he help me? He knows I would never help him if _he _was choking. …would I? _He paused for a moment and tried to imagine what he would do if it had been Yuki choking on something.

_...what. Normally I'd leave him to fend for himself, no questions asked, but for some reason... that seems kinda mean. Shit, what's wrong with me? I'm going soft._

Blinking a few times, he shook his head and attempted to return to studying, giving up on the maths and moving on to literacy, cringing slightly at the messy handwriting he'd used to take notes in class.

* * *

_...lately, I've seemed to be spending half my time watching TV, _Yuki thought as he half-watched the television, occasionally looking back down at the textbook sitting on his lap. Multitasking like this probably wasn't the best way to go about studying... but he was bored.

A few clattering noises from the kitchen bore testament to where Tohru was cleaning the dinner dishes, having refused any help.

On the couch beside Yuki, Shigure tore his eyes away from the television and glanced at the clock. "Hm... has Kyo been in his room since dinner?"

There was a moment of silence, until Yuki realized that the question was directed at him. "Hm? I'm not sure. I think so."

A faint frown flickered across Shigure's face, before a slightly forced-looking smile replaced it. "Hey, could you go check on him for me?"

"...why?" Yuki asked. _Why. Have. Shigure and Kyo. Been. Acting. So weird. Lately? _

"Just make sure he's not doing anything silly," Shigure replied.

_'Anything silly'? What's that supposed to mean?_

"Can't you do it?" Yuki sighed. _Why does it feel like I'm trying to convince myself that I mind? I don't mind. Why don't I mind? _"I'm studying."

"But... they're about to judge!" Shigure protested, glancing piteously back towards the television. "I will simply die if I don't see who wins, it's so close-"

"Fine," Yuki interrupted before Shigure could get started on another rant. Putting his book aside, he plodded off towards Kyo's room, still bewildered by the fact that he wasn't as put out as he should be.

Finding the door of Kyo's room open, he glanced in. The cat was sprawled on the bed asleep, papers scattered around him and one hand resting on an open textbook. Yuki paused a moment, watching him. _He looks so... relaxed. He always seems kind of tense and angry when he's awake. _

Jerking himself away from his woolgathering, he returned to the main room and picked up his book, feeling suddenly sleepy. Shigure turned and looked up at him expectedly.

"He's asleep," Yuki said. "Speaking of which, I'm off to bed myself."

"Okay! Goodnight!" Shigure looked almost relieved, which puzzled the rat. Deciding to mull over it later, he briefly entered the kitchen to wish Tohru goodnight before heading for his room.

_If half my time is spent watching TV, the other half is spent traipsing up and down this staircase. _Placing his book on his desk and preparing himself for bed, his mind returned to what had lately been its main subject of thought: Kyo.

_I think I may be going mad... _Climbing into bed, he bit his lip to avoid letting out a sigh – he'd been sighing far too much already these past few days.

_Why have I been feeling like this? What could have happened to suddenly change my perception of him? _So many questions and so few answers. It was starting to get on his nerves, making him annoyed with himself.

_If you'd asked me a week ago what I thought about him, I'd have said I hated him. But now..._

_...now I'm not so sure._

_

* * *

_

**Yuki seems to get drinks from the kitchen a lot 0.o**

**I really don't like how the ending came out... and, as always, they seem a little OOC. Especially Yuki. Anyway... sorry that this chapter was a bit shorter than usual. I try to make my new chapters longer than the previous one was, but this time... I got stuck...**

**There seemed to be an overuse of commas and the word 'roof'.  
**

**Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. I'll do my best to update soon... lately I've been a bit stuck for ideas. Anyone have a suggestion or something for the next chapter?  
**

**Thanks again!**


	8. A Brief Infatuation

Thank you to** Janie27-27, BigMouth BakaNeko, Khandalis, invisiblelace, fan girl 666, LightningStar 0.o, roomofangels, Lazy Gaga, Samsal, cat2772, Haaaaaa, teddibear16, nara317, Sarah32138 and A lilmatchgirl **for reviewing chapter seven. Thanks also to everyone who's read or added Tactics to their faves and alerts! =)

Gah. Sorry for the exceptionally long wait for this chapter, as well as its slightly short-ish length and poor quality. I wasn't as fastidious proof-reading this as I normally am, so please forgive me if the quality is lower than usual. I've been quite sick and unable to type much or get online... anyway, I'll quit making excuses and let you get on with the reading.

This chapter is dedicated to **teddibear16**, who suggested that they trip while dancing.

**DISCLAIMER- I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**

* * *

**_There was something different about this dream. This time, he knew he was dreaming – sometimes it felt so real that he couldn't tell. In this instance, he was clearly aware of the fact. There was another thing odd about the dream as well... although, as in all the other ones, he was kneeling in a dark room before Akito... this time, there was someone else next to him._

I wonder... is it possible to wake myself up? _He attempted to force his eyes – his real world eyes – to open, but to no avail. Turning his head, he frowned as the figure next to him became clear._

Great, _Yuki thought as he stared at Kyo, who was kneeling beside him and staring down at the floor._ As if it isn't bad enough that I can't stop thinking about him when I'm awake... now he's intruding in my dreams as well!

_The sound of a foot tapping made him look up to see Akito standing over him, a frown on the god's face. "Yuki... why didn't you come to visit me?"_

_It was one of those bizarre things Akito always said or asked him in these nightmares, reminding him of something he'd forgotten or never been told to do, chastising him, punishing him. Not sure whether or not he was meant to speak (half the time he was accused of interrupting Akito, but whenever he kept his mouth shut the god would think he was ignoring him), he settled for keeping his head down, staring at Akito's feet._

Toenails, _Yuki promptly thought randomly, feeling more confident for some reason, probably because he knew that he would wake up any minute. _What time did I set my alarm clock? Did I even set it at all?

_All confidence washed out of him, however, when Akito gripped his hair and jerked his head up. Although it didn't hurt, being a dream and all, the fear that gripped him at the sight of the god's face was worse than any pain._

_Akito's face was contorted with rage, eyes narrowed into dark slits, brow furrowed, teeth bared slightly. It was a face Yuki remembered from his childhood, one he'd seen every time something upset Akito and the god decided to use the rat as a means of venting his anger._

_Flinching slightly, he knelt, frozen, as Akito glowered at him, mouthing venomous words that Yuki couldn't hear over the roaring in his ears._

"_Crap!"_

_He heard that alright. Akito's hold on him slowly loosened as they both turned to stare at Kyo. The cat was on his hands and knees, beads spilling around him as he clutched at his broken bracelet, trying in vain to hold it together._

_A laugh burst from Akito, a harsh, humorless sound. "Stupid creature. You broke the only thing that was keeping you in this form. I guess now you'll be staying as a true monster... permanently."_

_And it was at that point that the dream became truly outlandish, and turned into a blur of dead birds raining from the sky, Yuki trying desperately to pick up all the beads while Kyo choked on something in the corner, and Akito running in circles laughing like a maniac._

_

* * *

_Yuki's eyes opened slowly and found himself staring at his bedroom wall. Half of his bedcover was twisted around him and his pillow was on the floor. Quickly adjusting everything and shifting to lie on his back, he sighed and attempted to go back to sleep.

He found that he couldn't.

_Hm... odd. Normally it's waking up I have trouble with in the mornings. _

Glancing at the alarm clock on the bedside table, he found that it was quarter-to seven. Being the weekend, he could probably stay in bed for another hour, or longer. Slumping back against the pillows, he reflected on the strange dream he'd just woken up from.

_Ridiculous, _he concluded, after a moment's contemplation. _But at least it wasn't as bad as some of the other nightmares I've had._

The sound of someone moving about downstairs made him turn his head, listening. _Doesn't sound like Tohru... probably that stupid cat. Well, I have no desire to go down and run into him. Encountering him in the middle of the night, twice, is already far too much._

Sitting up, he yawned and ruefully left his warm bed to go sit at the desk, deciding that since he was awake, he may as well study. Dragging his textbook towards him, he flicked it to the page he'd last been working on.

_...ew. _Yuki wrinkled his nose as he noticed flecks of rubber dust caught between the pages. He wasn't sure if they were from his own eraser, of if they'd flown from Kyo's mouth as the cat choked. He quickly shook them onto the floor, not particularly wanting to touch something that had been in Kyo's mouth.

Once this had been accomplished, he set about working.

* * *

"I am going to buy a heater!" Shigure proclaimed dramatically, posing in the doorway with one hand on his hip and a glass of water flourished in the other.

The other three occupants of the house glanced up from where they sat at the table, books laid out in front of them as they studied.

"About time," Kyo grunted, before turning back to his work. Immediately after breakfast, the three of them had begun their studies, all choosing to work downstairs instead of up in their rooms, which were a bit stuffy at this time of day and in this weather. Tohru sat between the two boys, murmuring to herself every time she encountered a difficult question.

"In fact, I'm going out to buy one right now!" Shigure drained his glass and set it aside. "Would anyone like to come with me?"

"Umm..." Tohru looked up, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Maybe I should get the grocery shopping out of the way while it's still early... it might be hard to get to the store during rush hour."

"An excellent plan!" Shigure beamed. Kyo frowned as Tohru packed up her things and followed Shigure to the door. _Great. I'll be alone with the damn rat._

"We'll be back later! Don't do anything naughty while we're gone!" Shigure chuckled, waving. Kyo scowled as the door slammed shut behind them.

A few moments passed in silence as the boys worked. Kyo continued to frown, unable to concentrate on the words in the textbook for more than a few minutes at a time. _Why... why aren't Yuki and I fighting? How come we're able to sit here and study together? We were never able to do this before!_

He glared at the rat, who didn't notice. _Either we're starting to get along, or... we've both become exceptionally good at ignoring one another._

He'd always preferred picking fights with the rat to ignoring him, though. As for getting along... Kyo's fist tightened around his pen as he considered this. _I can't. Get along with him, that is. Gah! I should hate him! I _have _to hate him! If we stop fighting... well, there'll be no point to the bet, and... _he almost dragged his mind away from that train of thought, but forced himself to think it over.

_I need to beat Yuki in a fight, or I'll lose the bet. I can't beat him if I'm being all friendly-friendly with him, _he thought grimly, shooting his cousin a dark look. _I _need_ to hate him! It's getting angry at him, _loathing_ him, that makes me stronger when I fight! So... why the hell have I been finding it _hard _to hate him? This isn't good, this isn't good at all!  
_

His fists clenched until his knuckles turned white, the pen trembling in his grip as he attempted to muster up his old, familiar hatred for the rat.

It wasn't working.

* * *

Yuki shook his cramped hand out as he finished another line of writing, pleased with how his studies were going. Glancing over at Kyo, he frowned slightly. The cat was hunched over, fists clenched tightly and looking down, face screwed into a glare. He looked so downcast and angry that Yuki was tempted to ask what was wrong.

_Pffft. Like he'd tell me, anyway. _Picking up his pen again, Yuki started a new paragraph, but found his gaze wandering back over to his cousin. He started as Kyo furiously bit his lip, a bead of blood rolling down the cat's chin.

"Hey," Yuki said, feeling as though he should say something. _Not that I really care what he's doing. And here I go, feeling as though I'm denying something again! I really hate my screwed up emotions._

"...don't talk to me, damn rat!" Kyo spat suddenly, licking the blood from his lip and glowering at Yuki. "I don't want to hear whatever it is you have to say!"

Yuki couldn't help feeling slightly hurt, although he masked it with a cold glare. _See? Why did I even bother? He hates me, that much is obvious. And I should hate him back... life is much easier when the feeling is mutual._

The two boys were still sitting, glaring silently at one another, when the front door slid open and Haru entered, walking into the room towards them then coming to a halt, taking in the situation.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Kyo snapped finally, breaking his gaze away from Yuki and turning to glare at the ox instead.

Haru shrugged. "I did knock. Guess you didn't hear me."

"Whatever." the cat pushed away from the table and snatched up his books, striding out of the room and up the stairs. Yuki watched him leave before half-heartedly picking up his pen and scribbling idly in the margin of his exercise book.

"What was that all about?" Haru asked, sitting down opposite the rat.

Yuki shrugged. "Just Kyo being stupid, as usual."

"Hmm..." Haru raised his eyebrows, and Yuki shifted slightly uncomfortably under the ox's appraising stare. After a moment, the cow asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Puzzled, Yuki gave up his attempts at studying and sat back, giving Haru a quizzical look. "Why?"

"I'm not sure," Haru said slowly, glancing towards the staircase. "Is Kyo okay?"

"I don't know. And I don't really care," Yuki replied, looking down and fiddling with his pencil case. After a moment, he looked back up to find Haru watching him with a smirk. "What?"

"Heh." Haru shook his head, still smirking. "Do you really?"

"Do I really what?" Yuki asked, confused and slightly irritated. _What's up with Haru? He's acting... strange._

"Do you really not care?" Haru questioned, an odd glint in his eye as he leaned forward on his elbows.

"...of course," Yuki replied. Haru's eyebrows just rose even further and he continued to give Yuki a distinct _'oh, really?' _look. The rat frowned at him and decided to ignore him, picking up a highlighter and underlining key words in his study notes.

After a few moments, Haru cleared his throat and spoke again. "You know... he's been pretty down lately."

"Hm?" Yuki didn't bother looking up at the ox, starting to wish that Haru would just go away. _What's with all the questions? Is he deliberately trying to get on my nerves?_

"Kyo. He's been pretty down lately," Haru repeated.

"I know," Yuki said flatly, putting the lid back on the highlighter and looking around for something else to occupy his hands while he attempted to ignore Haru. _Why does he keep going on about Kyo? Why does _everyone _keep going on about Kyo?_

"Don't you think that's a cause for concern?" Haru picked up Yuki's pencil case and turned it over in his hands, fiddling with the zip.

Yuki was getting rather annoyed now. "Maybe, but I'm not concerned! Now, if you've quite finished interrogating me, I should get back to studying."

"He's your cousin," Haru commented, throwing the pencil case back down on the table and folding his arms.

Yuki glared, clasping his hands tightly in his lap. "The fact that he's my cousin has nothing to do with anything! It's never stopped us fighting before, it's never stopped him from hating me, or me from hating him! I really couldn't care less about the stupid cat, and I'm sure the feeling is mutual!"

A moment of tense silence followed this declaration.

"Pfft! Denial!" Haru said mildly, leaning back and folding his hands behind his head. "You think I haven't noticed the way you two have been interacting recently? Sure, you've been bickering, but you both seem to be acting differently."

"I don't feel like having this conversation," Yuki said coldly, snapping his book shut. "If you just came here to annoy me, you've succeeded. You can go now."

"Yuki..." The expression in Haru's eyes hardened and became more grave, his posture straightening. "You look like you haven't been sleeping properly. Something's bothering you."

"Yes, you."

"You know what I mean," Haru replied seriously. "It's something to do with Kyo, isn't it? You'll never come to term with your feelings if you keep up this mask of hatred all the time."

"Mask of hatred? I can assure you, my hatred for that stupid cat is perfectly real," Yuki scoffed, secretly a little alarmed at how close to home Haru was hitting. _How does he know all this...? And just when did he become so intuitive? _"My sleeping problems have nothing to do with him, either."

"Okay then, look me in the eye and tell me honestly that you hate him. And use his name, too," Haru challenged, resting his elbows on the table and leaning forward. "Prove to me that you're not just lying to yourself."

_Lying to myself? Every time I _think _of that stupid cat I feel like I'm lying to myself. _Yuki glared up at Haru, his eyes meeting the ox's. "I..."

"Say it. 'I hate Kyo'," Haru prompted, an almost taunting edge in his voice.

Yuki's mouth felt suddenly dry. He cleared his throat a few times, his tongue feeling uncomfortably like a large, dead fish. _For crying out loud, there must be something seriously wrong with me. If I just say three simple words, I can prove to Haru – and to myself – that all these strange feelings I've been having lately don't mean anything. Then everything can go back to the way it was before. That's good, right?_

"I..."

Haru's eyes glinted, a slight smirk tugging at the edges of his mouth. Yuki stared defiantly at him, trying to work up the will to force the words out of his mouth. _Why can't I...?_

"I... gah!" he slumped back, eyes darting over the surface of the table, surprised to find that his hands were shaking. _I... I hate this! _

"Yuki..." A warm hand set down on his shoulder as Haru crossed to the other side of the table, sitting down next to him. "Are you okay? I... shouldn't have done that. If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."

"I..." _Maybe it wouldn't be so bad telling Haru... I don't think Tohru really understood what I was trying to say... _Interlocking his fingers in a vain attempt to stop them trembling, he turned and looked up at Haru, who expression was pitifully contrite. "I'm not sure."

"Well... if you two are starting to get along, there's no reason to hide it," Haru said slowly.

Yuki shook his head, slightly exasperated. _Getting along... why does everyone always say that? It's far more complicated than simply _getting along_... _"We're not really... that is, yesterday... we... ah, it's hard to explain."

"You might as well try and explain it anyway," Haru mused, crossing his legs. "Putting it into words might make it less confusing for you."

"Yes..." Yuki frowned slightly, before launching into an attempted explanation of his feelings: how he was feeling more companionship towards the cat but wasn't sure why, how he and Kyo had seemed close to 'getting along' yesterday, but now Kyo seemed as angry with him as always, and above all, how he was finding it hard to hate Kyo.

"Well now," Haru said eventually, scratching his chin. "I can identify with that."

"You can?"

"Yeah," Haru said mildly. "You know... that sounds like almost exactly what I went through when I realized that I didn't hate you anymore."

_Wait, what? _Yuki's mind furiously backtracked as he thought back to he and Haru's childhood. _Haru used to hate me because I was the rat... then he decided that he was... in love with me?_

"Maybe you've got a crush on him," Haru suggested, ignoring Yuki's mortified look at his words. "There's a thin line between love and hate, and all that."

"Haru, you obviously weren't listening to a word I was saying!" Yuki hissed, feeling his face growing hot. _A crush? I think not! I would never... _"I just thought that maybe... we could stop being enemies! _That's what I was getting at_! I don't know where you get these ideas! In case you haven't realized, we're both _male_! Male _cousins_! Have you been spending too much time around Shigure?"

"Calm down," Haru chuckled. "It's perfectly natural for a male to be attracted to another male. I'm not accusing you of wanting to marry him or anything like that. A crush is... a brief infatuation with another person. There's no rule saying they have to be of the same gender."

"Let's stop talking about this," Yuki growled. _Why did I even bother telling Haru about this...? It's obvious he doesn't understand! I certainly _do not _like Kyo in that way! And even... even if I did, I should hope I wouldn't be so fickle as to have merely a 'brief infatuation'..._

"Well... have you ever thought about kissing him?"

"_That's enough, _Haru!" Yuki stood up from the table, sweeping his books into a pile and picking them up. The ox sniggered for a moment, then sobered, standing up and coming towards Yuki.

"Yuki... okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that. I'm only trying to help, you know," Haru said softly. "If you do happen to have a crush on him... it really is better not to deny it. Trust me on that."

"I don't have a crush on him," Yuki said shortly. "I'm not denying anything. I may... I may not _hate _Kyo any more, but I am attracted to him in a strictly platonic manner!" He glanced at the ox's remorseful expression and softened a little. "Look... thanks for listening, anyway."

"Any time." Haru looked briefly towards the stairs as though considering going up to find Kyo, then shrugged. "I'll get going, then. See you at school... I hope things work out for you."

"Yeah. See you," Yuki walked with Haru to the door and watched him saunter off, hoping he wouldn't get lost and end up wandering around for days. Once the ox was out of sight, he closed the door and stood in front of the table, not particularly wanting to study but at a loss as to what else to do.

With a sigh, he sat down on the couch, pondering what Haru had told him. _A crush... keh. He means well, but he's completely wrong._

_

* * *

_Kyo turned over on his bed and glared at the wastebasket, which had been moved to the other side of the room. He could faintly hear the murmur of Haru and Yuki's voices downstairs, but couldn't make out the words. _Not that I have any interest in eavesdropping. I'm sure whatever they're talking about is boring as hell and completely not worth listening to._

Shifting to lie on his back, he stared at the ceiling, bored – he couldn't be bothered studying, he didn't want to have to walk past Haru and Yuki to get to the television, and he'd already read the few books he kept in his room. Nothing else to really do, then.

"I guess I could clean up a bit," he said to himself, glancing about the bedroom. Although it was mostly bare, his desk and bedside table were getting a bit cluttered. Unwilling to move from his position on the bed, he sat up slightly and fumbled on the bedside table, straightening his alarm clock and picking up the folded pieces of paper littering the surface.

"What are these... notes from school. Okay, rubbish." Taking aim, he scrunched them into a ball and pelted it at the wastebasket. It fell short and missed by a clean meter, bouncing along the floor and coming to rest in the corner. "Oops. Crap throw."

Finally hauling himself off the bed, he sat down at his desk and picked up all his books, placing them in a neat pile. Organizing his study notes, sorting out his stationary and throwing everything else at the bin (he ended up with a hit:miss ratio of 7:2) only took about fifteen minutes.

Then he was bored again.

He realized that the house had gone quiet some time while he was cleaning, and sat back down on the bed. _I guess Haru's gone, then...? So I'm alone with that damn rat again. _

Kyo clenched his teeth. Although his usual method of dealing with things that were bothering him was to either a) not think about them and hope they'd go away, or b) beat them up, he was quite sure that neither method would work this time.

_I can't... okay, let's think this through in an orderly manner, _he thought grimly. _Yesterday, while I was dancing with that damn rat... I mean, Yuki. In order for this to remain completely objective, I must use names. While I was dancing with Yuki, I... well, I dare say we were having _fun_. _He shook his head, confused. _Having fun with the damn rat? I mean Yuki? Since when were we able to do that?_

_And... this is something that must not be tolerated! If I allow myself to start... 'getting along' with him, the next thing I know, we'll be becoming friends. Then I'll... I won't be able to get mad at him and get into a fight and _beat him_. So... that's what I want! The thing I want the most should be to _beat the damn rat _and win the bet! So why the hell do I find myself wanting to... well, I dunno, not-hate him, if that's a word._

_What's the opposite of hate?_

Kyo felt his face flushing as the answer to that popped into his head, wishing that there was some way to erase thoughts. _Shit. I did not mean that the way it came out... I mean, the opposite of hate can also be _like_. Like, as in, 'not-mind-and-sort-of-get-along-with'..._

_My mind is retarded, _he decided, slumping back on the bed. _And I've thought about Yuki enough for one day. If I'm gonna think about this any more, I'll do it tomorrow. Or the day after. For now I'll just concentrate on studying, and after the exams I can get back to... hating him. As soon as we have another fight, I'll find it easier to hate him, anyway._

He studiously ignored the fact that the last few times he'd had a fight with Yuki, it hadn't helped. Raising one arm over his face, he peeled back his sleeve to check the bandages, as had become habit over the last few days.

_No blood... that can only be a good thing. Maybe they've healed...? _Carefully undoing one end of the bandage, he unwound it a little ways and pulled a face. There was only a faint stain of blood on the inside of the bandages, and the wounds appeared to be healing quite well. Nevertheless, the scars looked pretty awful, standing out starkly against his skin.

_I'll never wear short sleeves again... _he thought rather ruefully, redoing the bandages. The sight of the scars made him feel slightly ill, a strange feeling gnawing at the pit of his stomach. Guilt? Shame, perhaps? Although looking at what he had done to himself made him nauseated, part of the ill feeling came from the disturbing knowledge that, someplace in the back of his mind, he felt he could quite easily do it again.

_It makes me feel better, _he intoned, closing his eyes. _And, being the cat, anything that makes me feel better is a good thing in my books. ...now I'm just confusing myself. Better not to think about anything._

Although Kyo had always been one to live in the moment, thoughts of his impending caging haunted him. _As long as there's a chance that I can be free... I have to take it. Which means, no more of this nonsensical 'almost-friendship' with Yuki. We hate each other, and that's the way it should be._

_Good plan, _said his brain, while his heart screamed: _Denial._

_

* * *

_"I think you just stick that in there."

"What, just like that?"

"Well... that's what it says here..." Tohru frowned as she peered at the paper manual that had come with their new heater. "The diagram's aren't very clear, but... um, maybe it's not a good idea to fiddle around with all those parts. I think you should just put the cord in, then plug it in."

"Righto then!" Shigure adjusted the cord attached to the heater, then pushed the plug into the socket. There was a slight flash of electricity around the powerpoint as it connected, then the heater's light blinked on.

"It doesn't seem that hot," Shigure commented, running his hand over the top of the heater. "Maybe it needs time to warm up."

Yuki sighed as he watched them from where he sat on the couch, notes spread out around him. Shigure glanced over at him and laughed.

"All three of you are practically swimming in papers and textbooks these days!" the dog chuckled, grinning at Kyo, who sat at the table studying and proving Shigure's point. "There's hardly a moment when I see one of you _without _some sort of study material."

"Well, the exams are coming up so soon..." Tohru folded the manual and put it down on the table. "Um, I'll go and get started on lunch."

"Thank you, my little flower!" Shigure gave the heater one last nudge before beaming at it. "There! Now you lot can't complain about it being so cold anymore! Well, I'm off to do some work! Happy studying!"

Yuki adjusted his grip on his pen and continued hitting the books. After about ten minutes, the heater had made the room comfortably warm, and Yuki shrugged off his jacket, neatly folding it and placing it to the side. He glanced up at Kyo, frowning – the cat was still wearing long sleeves, and seemed in no hurry to change into something cooler.

_He must be sweltering, _Yuki thought, before pushing the thought away. _Well, that's his problem – if he wants to boil, I shan't interfere._

Shigure chose that moment to stride back into the room, a notepad in his hand and a pen stuck behind his ear. He walked right up to the heater and stood so close to it that his clothes were in danger of setting alight, holding his hands over the grill to warm them.

"Heat, glorious heat!" the dog proclaimed, then, as though reading Yuki's mind, glanced towards Kyo. "You look a little hot over there, Kyo. You wanna go change into a t-shirt or something?"

Kyo gave Shigure a pointed stare. After a moment, the dog's face dawned with a look of realization, before he said, a little too loudly, "Well, don't blame me if you spontaneously combust!"

Yuki, silently observing this exchange, was more puzzled than ever. _There's obviously something going on between the two of them... well, I knew that already, but I haven't the faintest idea what it could be... _The curiosity was starting to really bug him.

"Lunch!" Tohru chimed, breaking the silence that had settled over the room.

* * *

"I hate literacy," Kyo muttered as he threw his books down onto the roof, sitting down next to them. After lunch, the heat downstairs had become simply too much to bear, and the cat had decided to retreat to the roof. It was quieter up here as well – Shigure had offered to clean the dishes so that Tohru could spend time studying, but the dog seemed to find it necessary to sing while doing the chore. The sound of breaking china every now and then only added to the racket.

Kyo glared at his books, not particularly inspired by any of them. "I hate Shakespeare... I hate maths... I hate parabola... I hate quadratic equations..." _I hate my life, _something whispered in the back of his mind, but he quickly buried the thought under mathematical formulas. _The last thing I need while trying to study is return-of-the-I-hate-my-life-fullness. Area = pi x r-squared. _

Shifting to lie on his stomach, his books spread out in front of him, he began working on one of the exercises in his maths book, but was quickly distracted by a piece of seaweed stuck between his back molars.

_Gah! This isn't getting me anywhere! _Slamming his pen down in frustration, he stood up and climbed down the ladder back into the house. _I need a break. I've been studying all day. Well, most of the day. Whatever._

Walking into the main room, he was hit with a wave of heat, and had to resist the urge to take off his jacket or roll up his sleeves. "Shigure, turn the damn heater off!"

The dog looked up from where he sat beside Yuki on the couch. "Hm? But Kyo, you guys are always complaining about how cold it is! Now it's toasty warm!"

"It's cold at _night_. We don't need it on in the middle of the day!" Kyo marched to the fridge and pulled it open, pausing a moment to enjoy the cold air that wafted out as he grabbed the milk carton.

"Should you be studying?" Shigure commented, pausing in his doodling as Kyo returned to the room. "I thought you were on the roof, working."

"I was. Now I'm having a break," Kyo said, switching off the heater and ignoring Shigure's protests at the action.

"Hmmph. Well, maybe Yuki should take a break as well!" Shigure peered over the rat's shoulder. "Look how much work he's done! You two can take a break together and practice some more of your _beautiful dancing_!"

Kyo glanced over at Yuki, their eyes meeting for a moment. The cat scowled and looked away, trying to fight back the part of him that thought dancing with Yuki was fun. _This whole dancing business is... it should just be another excuse to fight. I don't want to start liking it. Enjoying anything to do with the damn rat is just _wrong. _I'm meant to hate everything about him._

"We did a lot of practice yesterday," Yuki said, his expression unreadable.

Shigure raised his eyebrows. "Practice makes perfect! Well if you don't want to practice, what else will you do? The devil finds work for idle hands! Ooh, I have an idea! You can help me with my latest novel! I'm a little stuck for ideas... I could do with some _inspiration_."

"...uh." _Well if it's a choice between dancing with the damn rat or spending time with that perverted dog... dancing is preferable. _Kyo glanced at Yuki a second time, and the rat shrugged, getting up and heading for the door. Kyo followed, ignoring Shigure's giggles as they went outside, shutting the door behind them.

* * *

Standing on the porch together, Yuki was surprised to find that he didn't feel as awkward holding Kyo as he usually did at school. The cat's hand on his shoulder didn't feel as out of place as it normally did, and putting his own hand on Kyo's waist wasn't as uncomfortable.

_We're getting used to it, perhaps? _He mused to himself as they began the steps. _Getting used to touching one another in a way other than fighting? I never thought that would happen._

He couldn't decide whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. He didn't have much time to think on it, however, as Kyo promptly blundered and stepped on his foot. _Okay. Maybe we're doing okay with the cha-cha, but this dance _definitely _needs more practice._

"I thought you'd memorized the steps," he commented. "Surely you haven't forgotten them again?"

"I've kind of being concentrating on revising for the exams," Kyo snapped back. "Dance steps aren't the first thing on my mind."

Sighing, Yuki proceeded to remind his cousin of what they were doing, before they danced through the routine slowly. _Well... this isn't so bad. It beats sitting around with Shigure, anyway. _Out loud, he suggested, "Do you think you know the steps well enough to try it a bit faster?"

"Yeah yeah," Kyo growled. "Let's do it already."

"Alright..." Yuki picked up the pace, counting under his breath as he moved faster. Kyo huffed in annoyance as he struggled to keep up, occasionally skipping a step in order to stay in time with Yuki.

What occurred next happened so fast that it was almost a blur to Yuki.

One moment, he was putting his foot forward to do the next step. Kyo took a step in the wrong direction, they got in one another's way, and the next thing he knew, his ankle was entangled around Kyo's leg, somehow. The cat rather foolishly pulled his foot backwards, Yuki's knee was jerked forward, and they tumbled over.

Yuki instinctively flung his arms out to stop his fall, grazing his palms on the hard surface of the porch as they landed in a most compromising position. Kyo was flat on his back, head having rebounded off the ground with a rather ominous cracking sound. Yuki had managed to catch himself before he ended up sprawled on top of the cat, but he now straddled Kyo's waist, hands planted on the flooring either side of his cousin's head, their faces far too close together for comfort.

He felt his face flushing at the awkward situation, still in too much shock to recover his wits and stand up. Kyo's eyes were equally wide, and he looked a little dazed. As if this wasn't bad enough, Haru's words from earlier that afternoon chose that inconvenient moment to pop back into Yuki's head.

_'Have you ever thought about kissing him...?'_

Mortified, Yuki quickly disentangled himself from Kyo and got to his feet, turning his head away to hide the blush he was certain was spreading along his cheeks. _Of all the stupid things that could have happened... _

Glancing back at Kyo, he found the cat standing up, rubbing the back of his head and wincing. Their eyes met for a brief second before they both looked away, turning their backs on one another. Yuki tugged at the collar of his shirt, which suddenly seemed too tight.

"D-damn rat!" Kyo stuttered finally, embarrassment evident in his voice. "You tripped me!"

"On the contrary, _you_ tripped _me_," Yuki replied, although he found it hard to muster venom into his voice.

Kyo didn't reply, and there was a tense moment of silence. After a while, Yuki cleared his throat. "I think... that's enough practice for today."

"Yeah," Kyo said. They slowly to turned to face one another, an unspoken agreement forming to never speak of this incident again.

"...I'm going back to my room to study," Yuki muttered, and quickly headed back into the house, gathering his books from the couch and hurrying upstairs.

Once the door was shut behind him, however, all thoughts of studying fled. He dropped his books on the desk and sank down onto his bed, the tripping-and-falling incident replaying over and over in his mind.

_I was close enough to... _he shook his head firmly, dispelling all thoughts of kisses and whatnot. _I'm overreacting! It was an innocent accident! _

_And I certainly do not have a 'brief infatuation'._

_

* * *

_

**So, how was it? Did this chapter move along too fast? Sorry if they're a bit OOC. Anyone who gave me a suggestion last chapter, that I didn't use in this one... I'm planning how to incorporate it, and I'll probably use it in a later chapter. Thank you!**

**Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated, as usual. I've got quite a few ideas for the next chapter, but I've also got exams coming up, so... we'll see how fast I can update XP  
**

**Thanks again!**


	9. On Impulse

Thank you to **Mika Starlight, changeling17, Aerys Krystie, Sarah32138, lavillalover, _MattFanGirl_, Envious Yet, mousecat, _llaelien_, Kami-Sama334, Lazy Gaga, LightningStar 0.o, Samsal, invisiblelace, fan girl 666, Nicoliole, teddibear16, Khandalis, trickiwoooo, and yoru 32 **for reviewing chapter eight. As well as everyone who added Tactics to favorites, and the many people who added it to alerts! Yay! ~ =)

**I apologise profusely**. It has taken me almost, if not an entire **month** to get this next chapter up. My sincerest apologies. Exams are over now, thank God, but there have been some issues in real life that meant I wasn't able to get down to typing much lately. Over half this chapter was typed this morning when I was really tired, and I didn't proof read it as carefully as I normally do, so I apologise for a possibly low standard.

I'll stop talking and let you read now.

**DISCLAIMER- I do not own Fruits Basket.**

**CHAPTER NINE**

**

* * *

**"Welcome, gentlemen! Ladies that have their toes unplagued with corns will have a bout with you. Ah ha, my mistresses! Which of you all will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty, she, I'll swear, hath corns; am I come near ye now? … What the _hell_ does that mean?"

Kyo gave his literacy book a scathing glare. Around him, other students continued their work quietly, although the occasional scrap of Shakespeare's quotes could be heard being muttered. Yes, just another day back at school... another day filled with frantic studying for the exams.

A flicker of grey to his right kept catching his attention. Annoyed, Kyo turned to look at the back of Yuki's noggin. His cousin's head moved up and down slightly as he wrote, and the motion of his hair was nagging at the edge of Kyo's vision. _Just like the damn rat to annoy me without even realizing it._

He felt his cheeks warm slightly as he continued watching the rat. Ever since that little incident yesterday, he'd been avoiding Yuki, although he wasn't sure why. _Dammit. It was just an accident, so why can't I just forget about it? _He rubbed the back of his head, wincing slightly – a bruise had formed where he'd knocked his skull against the porch. _And of course, the stupid rat wasn't injured at all in that fall. Typical. I always seem to cop it._

He noticed the teacher glaring at him, and quickly got back to work. _Romeo and Juliet. Why Romeo and Juliet? Why would the teacher pick the most _boring, _soppy, _romantic_ play to study? Why not... I dunno, Hamlet or something?_

Not that Kyo particularly cared about Shakespeare. Everything he read seemed to go into his mind and straight back out again. _I can't even understand the stupid fancy writing. What's with all the 'thee's and 'thou's, anyway? Pfah. Umm, so, where was I. Corns on peoples' toes. What the hell are corns? Isn't that a vegetable?_

With a small sigh, he picked up his book and continued reading through the play, frowning every time he encountered a strange or difficult word. He felt his concentration drifting again and scowled. _What is the _point _of this? It's not like we're going to _need _to know about Romeo and Juliet later on in life, so I don't see the point of learning it._

A small, spiteful part of his mind whispered that there was no point learning _anything_, as he would be going straight to the cage after graduation, but he beat down the thought. _I'm not. I'm going to beat the damn rat, and I'll be free. I _will _beat him._

Glancing at the clock, he realized they only had five minutes left, and picked up his timetable to check what subject they had next. _Oh. PE. Wonderful. _He glared at Yuki's head for a moment before turning back to his book.

In a bored and slightly morbid mood, he decided to skip to the part where they committed suicide.

* * *

Yuki found himself dreading the upcoming period. For the remainder of last night, and all of this morning, he had noticed Kyo avoiding him, going so far as to look away immediately as soon as their eyes met. He himself had been finding it hard to be around the cat without feeling embarrassed.

_For the love of humanity! Can't we just _forget about it_? _He thought, frustrated. _It's not like it's the first time I've been on top of him – I've pinned him down plenty of times when fighting..._

_...but that's the thing, we weren't fighting, we were _dancing_. The context makes it very different. _He jumped slightly as the bell rang, jerking him out of his reverie. Standing along with the rest of the class, he gathered his materials and walked over to Tohru's desk to wait for her.

"Ahh... sorry I'm taking so long," Tohru apologized as she closed her books and gathered them into a pile, only to drop her pencil case and have to stoop to pick it up. She sneezed a few times, fumbling in her pocket for a tissue, before blowing her nose. "Sorry."

"It's fine, Miss Honda," Yuki said, cautiously eying the members of the Prince Yuki Fan Club, who were hovering by the doorway watching him. He looked away as he noticed Kyo also standing by the door, giving them an impatient glance as he waited. "If you're ready, let's get going?"

"Ah, yes." Tohru quickly picked up her books and they headed out. "Thanks for waiting for us, Kyo! Umm, what do we have next?"

"PE." Kyo said shortly, not bothering to disguise the distaste in his voice.

A small frown appeared on Tohru's face. "Surely... you two will find it easier now, since you've been practicing your dancing! I'm sure you two are way ahead of the rest of the class!"

"...yeah," Kyo muttered. "Uh huh. Sure." He glanced at Yuki, and a mutual moment of embarrassment passed between them as their eyes met. The rat had no doubt that his cousin was also recalling their last practice session and its rather awkward ending.

"Well then!" Tohru chirped, adjusting her grip on her books. "Let's get going!"

Upon entering their PE class, Yuki chose a seat on the opposite side of the room to Kyo. He felt slightly guilty as he sat down and noticed Tohru looking torn between the two boys, obviously trying to decide who she should sit with. To the girl's evident relief, Uo and Hana chose that moment to enter and whisk her off to a completely different row of desks.

"Good morning, class!" the teacher greeted, marching into the room and slamming his folder down on the front desk. "Are we all here? Can someone please shut the door? Thank you. Now, it's been a while since we had a theory lesson... I know you're all eager to continue with the dancing part of the course-"

_Oh yes. _Very _eager, _Yuki thought drily, resting his chin on his hands.

"-but we need to get on with the personal education section as well. We'll spend the first half of this lesson doing some book work, and then you'll have the remaining half to get on with your practice. Does that sound alright?" Teacher raised his eyebrows and looked out at the class expectantly. There was a ripple of murmurs of assent, as well as nodding of heads.

"Alright then! Get your books out! Today we will cover self esteem and the factors that influence it." He turned and began writing notes on the board, pausing every now and then to glance down at the criteria in his folder.

Yuki sighed as he pulled out his books and began copying down the notes. _This has got to be my least favorite class. Not only is it boring, it's rather pointless as well. _He ground to a halt as his pen ran dry, and began scribbling in the margin, trying to get the ink flowing again.

"Sorry I'm late!" came a breathless voice from the doorway. "I had to stay back in my previous class..."

"Take a seat," the teacher answered. The next thing Yuki knew, there was a girl looming right in his face, staring at him.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked, gesturing at the desk beside him.

"No," Yuki replied politely, inwardly cursing. _Of course, she has to come sit next to _me_, as opposed to any of the other empty seats in the classroom. _He supposed he should be used to it – after all, fan girls were coming up to him all the time.

"Thank yooou!" the girl sat down, a whiff of her too-strong, flowery perfume wafting towards Yuki and making his nose twitch. He reached for the supply of tissues in his pocket and selected one that was less-used than the others, carefully blowing his nose.

_Ugh. What's this girl's name again? _He gave her a discreet sidelong glance, taking in her unbecoming, unnaturally pointy chin, her unbecoming, unnaturally broad forehead, and overall upside-down-triangle-shaped face. _Miki, that's it. Her name's Miki. And... if I recall correctly, she's in the fan club._ _Just my luck. _

Finally getting his pen to work, he continued copying the notes down from the board, trying his best to ignore the way Miki kept staring at him. _Self esteem? What is this self esteem you speak of? I certainly don't have any._

He found his thoughts drifting towards the other members of the Sohma family – in particular Ayame. _He probably has more self confidence than all the other Zodiac members put together. Not that that's saying much, considering Ritsu has none, Kisa has almost-none, I have almost-none..._

"Prince Yuki?"

"Eh?" Yuki glanced up at the sound of the high-pitched voice. "Um, yes?"

Miki's face screwed into a concerned expression, leaning alarmingly close to Yuki. "Are you alright? You were just sort of staring into space."

"I'm fine, thank you." Yuki forced a polite smile, resisting the urge to snap 'none of your business' or something similar at her. _What's up with my temper lately? I guess all these sleepless nights, along with the stress of exams, have been putting me in a foul mood... _

"Umm..." Miki looked down, a sudden flush staining her cheeks. "You know, I was wondering... are you, um... are you..."

"Yes?" Yuki asked gently, as he inwardly thought, _stop stuttering and get on with what you want to ask me! _After a moment, he rather regretfully thought, _That was uncharitable of me. I must not let my cool demeanor slide just because this poor girl seems to have lost her ability to talk coherently. … I really need more sleep._

"Well... are you... are you doing anything tomorrow afternoon?" Miki looked down, blushing furiously, but at the same time looking hopeful.

Yuki resisted the urge to sigh, instead placing a slightly regretful look on his face. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that for the rest of this week I'll have to spend my afternoons studying for the exams. My student council duties have been during some of my study lessons and I'm a little behind."

"Oh..." Miki gave a rather strained smile before turning back to her work. "Well, maybe we can meet up another time then."

"Perhaps." Yuki kept his face straight for a few more moments, then looked back down at his book, his hair hanging down to cover his expression. He then contorted his face into a frustrated snarl, letting his serene mask slip for a few moments.

_I hardly know this girl and she's asking to spend time with me! It's always like this, girls asking me out when I barely even know their names! I guess I should be flattered, but it's getting so annoying! _Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, he finished copying the notes off the board and leaned back. _I need to stop getting so worked up. … I think I need a vacation. A long, peaceful vacation without the stupid cat or Shigure or any fangirls around to bother me._

"Umm, Prince Yuki?" Miki ventured again.

"Yes?" Yuki asked wearily, careful to keep his voice level. _Why does this random girl keep talking to me?_

"If it's not too blunt a question, are you going out with anyone right now?"

There was a hiss of anger from the back of the classroom, and Yuki turned in his seat to see other girls from the fan club muttering amongst themselves and shooting Miki angry glances. He had to fight to keep his eyebrows from furrowing. _What is this? Have I no privacy? Are these girls always listening in on my conversations?_

"Prince Yuki?" Miki persisted.

Yuki could feel himself slowly losing it. _Why does she keep talking to me? And why do they all call me that? Prince Yuki this, Prince Yuki that... I'm no prince! I'm just a... a stupid rat! _

… _a stupid, depressed rat with a very low self esteem. _Yuki shook his head slowly, massaging his temples with one hand. He could feel the slight onset of a headache forming. _I should stop thinking about things so much. _

"Prince Yuki?"

_Gaaaah stop talking to me! _"Hm? Sorry, Miki, what were you saying? No, I'm not going out with any one right now." _If she had any sense, she would realize that I haven't gone out with anyone, ever, in the year-and-a-bit I've been at this school._

"Ooh. Really?" Miki looked hopeful again for a second, then pouted slightly, chewing the end of her pen into a gnawed plastic mess. "Because, you see, people were saying that you and your cousin... well, because of the dancing and stuff."

"Really." Yuki said flatly. _Me and Kyo…that is the last thing I need. _A strange, almost nervous feeling surged up in his stomach, nearly making him double over. _I don't want to think about this right now. Body over stressing. I don't think I can deal with this at the moment. _

Yuki pushed his chair back and stood up, forcing a pained smile when Miki looked up at him worriedly. "Excuse me. I have a bit of a headache... I think I'll ask the teacher if I can go to sick bay."

"Are you okay?" Miki asked worriedly.

_No. I just said I had a headache. Of course I'm not okay! … I sound like Kyo. That's not good. Maintain calm demeanor, maintain calm demeanor. _"I think it's just the after effects of my flu." Yuki said, nodding, before heading towards the teacher's desk. As he walked off, he heard the fan club girl's rushing over to Miki and caught the words '_demotion_' and '_being entirely too brash and familiar with the Prince!_'

The mask stayed in place as he walked out of the room.

* * *

Kyo's eyes narrowed as Yuki left. _Where's he going? And what are those girls muttering about? _He shook his head. _Suspicious. Well... if he's not here, then I can't exactly practice the dancing with him. Which is... good._

He really didn't want to dance with Yuki again after yesterday's incident. As many time as he told himself that it was just a stupid accident, he couldn't stop thinking about it, and he was certain that it would affect their ability to dance.

"Alright class! Once you've finished copying down this stuff from the board, come outside with your partner and you can practice your dancing for the rest of the lesson." The teacher grabbed his keys and opened the door, waving the class outside.

"Hey. My partner left," Kyo grunted, coming up to the teacher.

"Eh? Oh, Yuki went to sick bay!" Teacher replied. "Well... you can practice by yourself if you want, or I have a few errands you can run for me."

"I'll do your errands." _I'm not gonna stand there dancing by myself and looking like a complete moron. _

"Okay, can you go to the office and ask for a ream of paper? Bring it back here when you're done."

"Yeah, okay..." Shoving his hands in his pockets, Kyo marched down the hallway in the opposite direction to the class. He breathed a sigh of relief as he emerged from the building into the open air, making his way around the school block. He shivered sightly as a breeze blew past. There was no one around on the pathways, everyone being in class. The sky was grey, the world seemed empty, and any moment now he expected to see a desolate tumbleweed roll past... or something.

A cough from his right, shattering the silence, had him turning to see a figure leaning against the toilet block nearby. His eyes narrowed – Yuki? _What's the damn rat doing over there? I thought he was in sick bay, the bludger. _

He watched the rat for a few more moments, the other presumably not noticing his presence. After a while, curiosity overcame him and he marched over to his cousin.

"Hey, rat! I thought you were in sick bay!" Kyo scowled. "I didn't think you were one to skip out on class!"

"Shouldn't you be glad?" Yuki shot back. "The last time I checked, we _hated _dancing with one another."

The trace of doubt in Yuki's normally collected voice worried Kyo. A lot.

"Y-yeah, well... we'll get behind on our practice," he muttered, wondering why he suddenly found it hard to think of things to say.

"We practice enough at home, don't you think?" Yuki replied, and that, of course, brought up unwelcome memories of _the incident._

Kyo developed a newfound fascination with his shoelaces as both boys stared at the ground for a few moments.

"Where are you going, anyway? Not that I really care," Yuki asked eventually.

"Teacher asked me to get some paper." _Why the hell does he need a whole _ream _of paper anyway? Not like he's gonna use it, he's probably just gonna stand around watching us dance the rest of the lesson. He should get it himself._

"I'll come with you," Yuki said, completely unexpectedly.

Kyo's eyes narrowed. "Who says I want your company? Not everyone loves you, _Prince _Yuki!" An undefinable expression flickered across Yuki's usually impassive face for a moment, but Kyo ignored it. "Besides, the last time I checked, we _hated _spending time with one another. Stupid rat."

"It's a precaution," Yuki said coldly. "If a fangirl sees me standing here by myself, they're liable to come up and talk to me. Not so much if I'm with you."

"Why don't you just go to sick bay? Isn't that what you're meant to be doing? Pretending to be sick, you attention seeker?"

"Do shut up," Yuki snapped, now looking rather irritated. "I don't need advice from _you_ on what to do."

"Whatever. Come if you want, I really couldn't care less about what you do." Shoving his hands in his pockets, Kyo continued on towards the office. After a moment, Yuki followed.

_Ignore ignore, _Kyo thought pointlessly.

Yuki cleared his throat. "About yesterday..."

_So much for ignoring him. Why the _hell_ would he bring that up? I thought we were both trying to forget about it! _"What? Nothing happened yesterday, damn rat!" Kyo growled.

Yuki's eyebrows gracefully ascended and descended. "I was just going to say that maybe we shouldn't practice outside from now on! If Shigure saw something like what happened the other day... well, I'm sure you can imagine what sort of ideas he would get."

Kyo felt heat rising in his face and furiously returned to looking at his shoelaces, kicking a piece of discarded rubbish out of his way as he walked. "Y-yeah... well, who says we're even gonna practice at home again? If you ask me, we've done more than enough practice! Let's just leave the practice for school! And even if we _did _practice at home, nothing like what happened _yesterday_ will happen _again _because what happened _yesterday_ was a freaking _accident_ and the same accident rarely happens twice in a row! And even if it _did _happen again-"

"You're rambling," Yuki interrupted with a sigh.

Kyo glowered at him and marched into the office, emerging a few moments later with the paper."I'm going back to class now!" he announced, then stormed off, not bothering to wait and see what Yuki was going to do next.

_Damn rat. Fucking damn rat. Bloody hell, he's so bloody pretentious. Just being near him makes me so bloody annoyed. I can't believe I even considered the possibility that I didn't hate him. _

_

* * *

_"Back from school, I see!" Shigure declared, looking up from where he had been scribbling on his notepad, standing hunched before his new heater.

"Obviously!" Kyo kicked his shoes off and stamped into the room, heading for the staircase. "And turn the damn heater off! Geez! If you leave it on all day, it'll overheat and burn the whole house down!"

"No! My lovely heater would never harm us!" Shigure tossed his notepad to the side and embraced the appliance, ignoring the fact that his clothing was starting to curl and smoke from the intense heat caused by his close proximity. "Don't listen to that nasty Kyo, my darling heater... I know you'd never burn us..."

Yuki sweat dropped as he stepped into the house. _Talking to inanimate objects is a sure sign that he's going mad... _

"Where's Tohru, then? The house feels so empty without that beautiful little flower-"

"She's over at her friend's house, studying," Yuki replied, watching as Kyo vanished up the stairs. The rat sat down on the couch, pulling off his jumper. "Much as I hate to agree with the stupid cat, I must say... Shigure, please turn off that heater. It's stifling in here."

"Ohh... well, only because you asked so nicely!" Shigure pouted, but flicked the heater off before plonking himself on the couch beside Yuki. The rat glared at him before shifting sideways slightly in an attempt to retain some personal space.

"Hey! Hey, Yuki!" Shigure piped up suddenly.

"What?"

"Tomorrow I have to go to the main house for the night," Shigure said. "And I can't exactly leave you three alone, now can I?"

"I'm sure we're old enough to take care of ourselves for one night," Yuki sighed. "Besides, you've left us alone before."

"I don't trust you!" Shigure grinned, although Yuki noticed it looked slightly forced. "I can't leave my delicate little flower alone with two big, rough boys like yourself and Kyo-kun-"

"You are _not _one to talk," Yuki retorted.

"Besides, you two might destroy my walls and my doors- or _worse_, my new heater!" By now, obviously fake tears were streaming down Shigure's face. "_I can't bear the thought of what will happen if I leave you all alone here for a whole niiiight..._!"

"Geez, get to the point already," Kyo snapped, coming down the stairs.

"Ah... well, who shall I leave to babysit you three?" Shigure sat up straighter and wiped his eyes. "You have your pick of any babysitter you want! Aaya? Tori? Ooh, how about Rit-chan?"

"Moron," Kyo muttered, flopping down to sit cross legged near the table. "You know asking Ritsu to 'babysit' us will only end up causing more chaos in your precious house."

"So you'd prefer that I ask Ayame?"

"_No_," Yuki said firmly, giving the dog a black look.

"Well, it'll have to be Tori then!" Shigure jumped up from the couch and pranced across the room, almost tripping over the still-seated Kyo. "I'll call him right now and ask!"

"I doubt he'll be pleased," Kyo murmured.

"Nah! He's the one who's been pestering me to come to the main house anyway!" Shigure remarked. "Besides, he can't refuse a friend in need! Now, don't you two do anything _bad _while I'm not here to keep an eye on you!" Though his remark had a distinctly suggestive tone to it, Yuki noticed that his eyes were fixed on the scowling Kyo.

_And, once again, Shigure and the stupid cat continue to keep me in the dark, _Yuki thought sourly. Not wanting to wait around and hear Shigure blathering on the phone to Hatori, he picked up his school bag and headed upstairs to his room. _And so begins the daily routine of life. Study, eat, sleep, school, study, eat, sleep, school..._

_

* * *

_Kyo was bored.

He couldn't be bothered studying. The words were starting to swim around in his head, and he was sure if he tried to load any more information into his brain, the whole thing would blow up. _I have reached my maximum learning capacity for this day. Now what?_

His arm itched again. It was hard to scratch it with the bandages in the way, and he idly wondered whether he could take them off yet. He found that he had started avoided looking at his arms, even when he had long sleeves on.

Shigure, sitting on the couch next to him and still scrawling away at his notebook, glanced over.

"Shouldn't you be studying, Kyo?"

"I've already studied."

"It never hurts to study more! The more you study, the more you learn! The more you learn, the more intelligent you will be! The more intelligent you are, the more people will look up to you! The more people look up to you, the more girls will think you are attractive! The more-"

"Okay, okay, I get the point!" Kyo interrupted. "I'm too tired to study right now."

"Gasp! Go take a nap then!" Shigure tapped the cat on the head with the end of his pen, drawing a flinch and a scowl. "In fact, you can sleep right here on the couch! This is a very comfortable couch, don't you think?"

"I know you just want to draw something on my face while I'm sleeping," Kyo snapped, waving Shigure's pen away from him. "Why are you talking to me? You're just using me as a distraction so you can stop working! Keep working!"

"Fiiine..." Shigure chewed on his pen for a moment, scanning his eyes over the notebook. "Wah! I can't do it! All the ideas I originally had have shriveled up, leaving my mind empty! This, Kyo, _this _lack of activity and pointless rambling, _this _is the horror that is _writer's block_!"

"Oh, the horror," Kyo said mildly, bored of Shigure's pointless prattle but too lazy to get off the couch and go somewhere else.

"Help me, Kyo! Save me from the writer's block!" Shigure threw the notepad at the cat, who caught it on instinct.

"Write something!" Shigure thrust the pen at Kyo, who took it, avoiding touching the area that the dog had been chewing.

"Umm, what? What am I meant to write?"

"Just continue on from the notes I've been making! I'm not sure what should happen next!" Shigure sighed and leaned back, folding his arms behind his head and crossing his legs. "I think I need a young mind to help me gain some inspiration for my work! You're closer to the age of the characters than I am, thus you will be able to think of new ideas!"

"Uhh." Kyo squinted at what Shigure had written so far, struggling to make out the looping handwriting.

_Girl decides that she prefers boy's brother._

_Boy still thinks girls is in love with him._

_Brother thinks boy has broken up with girl._

_While talking to brother, girl also gets idea that boy has broken up with her._

_Girl decides to go out with brother instead._

_Boy is paired with other boy (who shall be called boy#2 for now so that I don't get confused) for a school project involving dancing._

Kyo's brow furrowed, and he glared over at Shigure, who was whistling innocently while staring at the blank screen of the television.

Suspicious, Kyo turned back to the notepad.

_Boy finds out about girl and brother._

_Boy confides in boy#2 about his personal problems._

_Boy#2 listens sympathetically and comforts him._

_Boy finds himself falling for boy#2 and asks him out._

_Boy#2 agrees._

_Boy and boy#2 fall in love, go on a date and return to boy's house._

_Boy and boy#2 have hot-_

"SHIGURE!"

"Hee hee! Do you like it?" Shigure asked cheekily, shooting Kyo a sly sidelong glance. "I drew inspiration from nearby sources!"

Furiously clicking the pen, Kyo scribbling at the bottom of the notepad before throwing it back at the dog. "Pervert! I can't believe you... actually I _can _believe you wrote something as _sickening _as this because you are a _corrupt, disgusting-_"

"Hmm, let's see! Kyo, what language were you writing in?" Shigure peered at Kyo's addition to the notepad. "I can't decipher your handwriting! Does this say _boy#2 thrusts-"_

"_Damn dog_!" Kyo snatched the notepad from Shigure and tore out the page. "Since you have obviously lost your ability to read, let me tell you: it says _boy#2 viciously murders his sicko cousin. _Let me describe the death scene. First he impales said cousin's throat on the sharp nib of his own ballpoint pen. Then he-"

"Hi Yuki!" Shigure said, waving madly at the rat, who had just entered the room. "Kyo here can't take a joooke."

"I don't call this a_ joke_!" Kyo growled.

"Why so touchy?" Shigure inquired. "Unless... it's all _true_! This is what has _actually been happening between the two of you_! Oh, this is marvelous-"

"What?" Yuki asked, confused. "Actually, on second thought, I'd rather not know."

"_Shall, we, dance! Dum dum dum!" _Shigure hummed, waltzing up from the couch and into the kitchen with an imaginary partner. Kyo glared after him, crumpling the torn page in his clenched fist.

"What the hell are you staring at, damn rat?" he demanded as Yuki gave him a curious glance.

"I'm going out!" Shigure declared suddenly, walking out of the kitchen and pulled open the front door. "Tori agreed to take care of you, but only if I finished my manuscript... wah... Actually I finished it a while ago, I was just hiding it from my editor. But I'm gonna go hand it in to her right now!"

"I don't care what you're doing..." Kyo mumbled. _I don't care about this. I don't care about that. What do I care about?_

_...milk._

"Bye bye! Be good while I'm gone! Although if you wish to re-enact a scene from that novel I was planning-"

"_Get out_!" Kyo looked frantically around for something to throw at the insufferable dog, but by the time his fingers closed around an abandoned mug of tea on the nearby table, Shigure had already left.

There was a moment of silence after the dog's departure. These random moments of silence were really starting to wear on Kyo's nerves, and his skin prickled slightly. Yuki was just... standing there. Looking puzzled, as he hadn't been present for the revealing of Shigure's 'new novel idea'. After a minute or so, the puzzled look vanished and was replaced by _the mask._

"...?" Kyo glared up at the ceiling, occasionally glancing at Yuki from the corner of his eye.

_...his expression..._

_...is always the same..._

_...it's so blank..._

… _it's DAMN UNNERVING!_

"Show some expression, you damn rat! Otherwise your face muscles will freeze and they'll be stuck like that forever!" Kyo yelled finally, jumping up from the couch and facing Yuki with a glare.

The eyebrows rose slowly. "And if you continue scowling like that, _your _face muscles will freeze into that ugly scowl," the rat replied calmly.

"Gah! I can't stand you."

"The feeling is mutual."

"Damn rat."

"Stupid cat."

Reciprocated scowling.

"I hate you," Kyo muttered eventually, and he was so used to saying those three words that they had lost all meaning for him. _I hate you more than I hate my life._

"I hate you more."

"I hate you the _most_!"

"I still hate you more," Yuki said. "Now, if you have nothing more important to say to me, I will return to studying."

"Teacher's pet."

"Unlike you, I care about my grades," the rat uttered, and for some reason, it seemed to Kyo as though he was taunting him. _Unlike you, I have a future. Unlike you, I'm not a disgusting monster that's going to be locked up after graduation. You can't beat me. You're not good enough. You'll never be good enough._

"Damn... rat..."

"I'm starting to think your vocabulary consists of only those two words."

_I'm smarter than you. I'm better than you. Everybody loves me more than you. Nobody loves you. Everyone hates you. I hate you the most. _

"Why are you just standing there? Stupid cat."

_Everyone hates the cat._

_No one cares about the cat._

_The cat should just die._

_No one would care._

"Hey!"

Kyo flinched as a light blow landed on the side of his face, knocking him out of his reverie. He glared at Yuki, confused – the rat could hit _way_ harder than that... _what, is he holding back on me or something? Am I not worth his time?  
_

_Of course not... I'm the cat._

"-zoning out?"

"Eh?" Kyo looked up again, the glare still on his face. Yuki was frowning slightly, his blank expression replaced by a hint of something that sort-of-vaguely resembled concern.

_It's not concern. No one cares about the cat._

_It's contempt._

_I hate him._

"Damn rat! I _hate _you!" And the next thing he knew, he was letting the rage take over, throwing punch after punch at Yuki, blood roaring in his ears and not thinking about anything except _hitting _the rat, _beating _the rat.

Every punch was neatly blocked or deflected, and that just made him angrier, and he swung another blow, almost missed, then suddenly felt it connect with Yuki's shoulder, and for a moment he was stunned.

_I hit Yuki._

_I hit the damn rat._

And that one moment that he stood, slightly surprised that he had managed to land a blow (albeit a slightly-retarded, almost-miss one), that one short moment was enough for Yuki to knock him off his feet and send him skidding backwards, sprawled on the floor in a rather undignified manner.

He blinked up at Yuki as the rat crouched over him, and this time the look in his cousin's eyes was very clearly _contempt._

"That didn't really hurt," Yuki informed him. "But I suppose you should be congratulated. After what, ten years? You've finally managed to touch me. I guess miracles really do happen."

"Shut up, damn rat," Kyo snapped. _Of course he'd put me down. Everyone does. _

_He still won._

_He always wins, dammit._

Then he snapped back to attention at a sigh from Yuki, and realized that the rat had been saying something that he hadn't heard, being too wrapped up in his own thoughts. _What's with me lately? I don't normally have my head in the clouds like this..._

"You're bleeding," Yuki repeated, saying it quite slowly, as though he was repeating it for the second time around (presumably, Kyo hadn't heard it the first time).

"Ah. Crap." Kyo lifted one arm carefully. _And that was my favorite shirt, too. And here I was thinking that they were healing. _

Getting to his feet and wincing as a newly-forming bruise on his hip twinged, he marched past Yuki, stomped upstairs to the bathroom and flung open the cupboard door.

No first aid kit.

"Confounded dog. Why the hell would he hide it?" Kyo slammed the door shut and strode angrily out of the room, glancing up and down the hall. ...I_ don't have any left in my room, either. Dammit. _

He swung around and marched towards the stairs, bumping straight into Yuki, who was coming up.

There was a precarious moment as they teetered on the edge of the top step, quite literally hanging in the balance.

Then they toppled backwards, hitting a few steps on the way down and desperately clutching for something to break their fall, ending up sprawled on the landing with more than a few bruises.

Kyo coughed a few times, the wind knocked out of him. _Shit. Damn. Fuck. Shit. Shit._

The mental swearing increased tenfold as he realized that he and the rat – _that damned rat –_ were in almost the exact same position they had been in near twenty-four hours ago.

Kyo groaned and let his head fall back to thump against the floor, wincing slightly as a bruise on his skull protested. Yuki looked kind of disoriented – as would any one who had suddenly fallen down a flight of stairs – but it wouldn't be long before he realized their situation.

_Kill me now, _Kyo thought, and wasn't too surprised to find that he actually meant it. _I really, _really_ hate my life... _

A cough and a groan from Yuki caught his attention, and he felt his face starting to blush furiously. _No. No. Must control facial temperature. Just tell him to get the hell off you already!_

"Damn rat, get- !"

He caught a quick flash of Yuki's eyes, once again with no discernible expression- _contempt?/concern?/horror/hatred/want? _

The next thing he knew, their faces were much closer together.

_Much_ closer.

So close, in fact, that their lips were practically pressed together.

_No, _Kyo thought, in a frozen state of mixed horror and _what-the-hell-is-happening. _

_We are totally not kissing, we're just... so close together that our lips are touching. What the _fuck_, Yuki! What the bloody _fuck_ are you-?_

"Egah!" Yuki pulled back suddenly, eyes impossibly wide. Apparently just noticing the fact that he had just _pressed his lips very close against the lips of his cousin. _

Kyo's mouth opened and shut in a rather realistic imitation of a fish, a thousand thoughts (most of them curses) welling up in his mind but no words actually making it out of his throat.

Yuki jumped backwards, stumbling slightly before straightening up. He stared at his hand before bringing it up to his mouth, touching his lips disbelievingly.

Kyo started to sit up, still unable to speak, when suddenly the rat dashed past him and flung open the front door, running out.

_...fuck_, Kyo thought, no other thought coherent in his mind.

_What the hell just happened?_

_

* * *

_

**Sorry about the random Shakespeare at the start ^^ my friend and I have been arguing over Hamlet **(or something) **and I just saw that quote and was like **corn... **cause I had corn for lunch that day. Only I think it's a different sort of corn. Anyway, I'll stop rambling and be CONCISE! **

**- Out of character Yuki. I apologise for this. I have suffered terrible writer's block and do not like how this chapter came out.**

**- Is it moving along too fast? We've had about nine chapters building up to the kiss, and I thought this was a good spot... cliched fall-and-kiss, sorry about that. Tell me if this was too sudden.**

**- Not really related to the story, but I got a formspring account. The link's on my profile. You can ask me anything, **(related or unrelated to Tactics, I don't mind!) **and you can do it anonymously if you want. Feel free to suggest ideas up there as well.**

**Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. I can't promise a speedy update, but I will try my hardest! **

**Thanks again.  
**


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